Choices and Consequences
by Escoger
Summary: Do our actions have consequences? Is our fate the same regardless of our choices? A Ramna fanfic based on the Manga starting right before Nodoka arrives to Nerima the first time. Will the choices and wishes made by some of the characters lead to a change
1. Akane's Wish

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 1**

**Akane's Wish**

_Uncertainty consumes me..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Friday February 17, 1994**_

"You come back here! RANMA YOU IDIOT!" This scream emitted from a young woman with short blue hair; she had an expression of utmost fury on her face that she wore very well.

"Ha! I would rather eat five-week old road kill than your 'food' Akane! At least then I MIGHT live to see tomorrow!" The teenage boy shouted back; he had black hair in a pigtail, a face with bright, steel-grey eyes with a hint of blue to them, and enough arrogance for ten emperors. While he shouted, he was running on top of a fence at a fairly good clip, with the girl in hot pursuit on the ground running alongside said fence.

Despite the fact that Akane was quite fast herself, Ranma was far too fast for her to keep up and his grinning face quickly vanished into the distance with a single parting shot, "Try calling the JSDF! I heard from Nabiki that she sometimes sells them your so-called lunches as biological weapons! Stupid uncute tomboy!"

As he left her sight, the tomboyish young woman stamped her feet then slowed her pace down to a slow walk; she was very early for once so she could take her time walking to the school. "Stupid Ranma, how can I get better if no one will even taste it? I wish I could cook well enough that he wouldn't want to eat what those bimbos make him and only want to eat my food." She growled.

"I can help you with that," spoke a male voice from right behind her. Akane whirled around and saw a man standing in the shadows of a nearby building of the marketplace that she had been passing through. He was dark-skinned with long blond hair in a ponytail; he also wore a ring on each and every finger as well as long brown robes with a light green star pattern all over the front.

At such an unusual sight as this strange man, even considering that they were in Nerima and such sights were to be expected, Akane could do little more than stand still and stare at him for several seconds before remembering he said something. "Excuse me?"

The man then started talking in a perfectly even monotone, almost as if he were a computer in the shape of a human being, "I can help you with your troubles, my name is Aijou, I am a wish-granter; if you are willing to pay the price I will grant you a wish. Although there are certain conditions, the wish and price involved must only affect you, the price must be more valuable to me than the wish, and you may only make one wish."

He paused to take a single breath then continued speaking at exactly the same pace as before.

"Side-effects are: you and those you know will be unable to notice that anything has changed and will think the wish had always been in effect and you will forget you have ever made said wish." He spoke all of this mechanically and the same monotone from beginning to end, as if he had said it hundreds of times; his bored face added to that impression. "Do you have any questions?"

Akane just blinked while looking at him looking like she got hit by a truck. "Could you repeat all of that again? I missed parts of it."

Aijou sighed and repeated the monologue he had given before with the exact same tone and wording.

Akane crossed her arms and replied in a rather annoyed tone. "What do you mean by price? If you want money go ask Nabiki, she has my allowance for the next two weeks."

He shook his head and with a slight frown said, "I do not trade my wishes for money, but rather attributes and abilities such as your ability to get random males to fall in love with you or your ability to swim or lack thereof; some of these attributes are more valuable than others." He said this too in a monotone, although he seemed to be somewhat annoyed with her; Akane started to get angry at how he seemed to view talking to her as a boring and annoying task.

Nonetheless, she banished her anger at him with a quick 'hmmph" and started to think about how she could take advantage of the situation. 'Well, what should I wish for? The ability to cook better would make people…' She quickly shoved aside thoughts of a single individual, '…like me more. On the other hand if I was better looking Ranma would never bother looking at those tramps. Maybe I should wish to be a better fighter. Ergh, what would stop the pervert from cheating on me with his other fiancées the best?'

After a few minutes of thinking and much pacing, during which Aijou just stood there in a state of total apathy while barely breathing, as if he were a human statue, she decided to wish…"I wish I was the most beautiful girl in Nerima, and I will trade my ability… err the first one of mine you mentioned in order to get this wish."

He turned away slightly and she had the distinct impression he rolled his eyes, "You mean the ability to get random males to fall in love with you?"

She nodded before remembering he had turned away and said, "yes".

He then sighed, before answering her. "Alright, that sounds fine. Ahem, I AGREE TO YOUR TERMS!" He said the last in a low shout. There was a rushing noise and a bright green light enveloped her from all sides in a dome of crackling energy. A golden symbol of a set of merchant's weights was superimposed on the dome and then…

A young woman left the marketplace leaving a trail of young men staring at her in her wake; she had sky-blue eyes and dark hair with a bluish tint that trailed down to her shoulders as well as a face to die for; where once her smile was described as cute, now it could be described as unearthly. Her face seemed equally comfortable in an expression of great kindness and compassion or in one of terrible rage; she seemed like an angel fallen from the skies whose purpose was to shatter the minds and break the hearts of men with the image of her beauty.

It was almost time for classes and Akane rushed quickly after her sometime fiancé towards Furinken High with an almost feral grin on her face at the thought at how she planned to surprise him.

* * *

After Akane left, Aijou chuckled, enjoying how his first encounter with a Neriman had gone; after hearing the tales of the craziness and madness of the place, he had elected to see if there were any opportunities to make a deal, especially because with people of such power, he could make a bigger profit in a couple hours than he had made in the past month, assuming they didn't become hostile.

He had particularly liked his deal with Miss Tendo, as she had been quite foolish to make such a trade, for an ability such as hers only came around maybe once every decade. 'It is quite ironic; from my glimpse of her thoughts and motivations, Miss Tendo desires love, yet doesn't want to be trapped in it nor be lusted after. However, her wish has done more to make her an object of lust rather than true love...It is quite a pity that she has so much pride, without the self-confidence to back it up...'

Aijou then smirked; he had more wishes to grant... 'And more profits to be had...'

**Author's Notes: **This is my first piece of fanfiction, it is based on the manga and begins right before Nodoka first arrives. It will follow the manga in terms of events (although I do plan on skipping a lot of the filler chapters such as the one at the end of book 20 with the headmistresses panties) although there will be major changes to the events that occur. For example, a different person might use the koi rod of love, or someone might be brought along who wasn't.

The point of this fanfiction is to take several changes to canon at that point and see how they snowball in the future and what changes it will lead to in the long run. As for pairings, I will leave that as a surprise for you all in the future.


	2. Shampoo's Choice

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 2**

**Shampoo's Choice**

_Pride unleashed me..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Friday February 17, 1994**_

"Airen! Is too-too good to see you! We go on date now, yes?" A buxom teenage girl with a beautiful figure and long lavender hair shouted this as she jumped off her delivery bike. Normally Ranma responded to this with a weary look but today it was one of terror; easily explained by the bike speeding towards him at something close to terminal velocity. He just managed to dodge the deadly projectile when he was hit by Shampoo's almost as deadly Amazon glomp, which pinned him to her person.

"Mmmmpf!!" This was probably meant to be something different; however Ranma's voice was muffled by the two soft protrusions his face was squeezed between.

'OK, with him erm…distracted, he is vulnerable! This would probably be a good chance to ask him on a date and win him from THEM! If I can 'get my foot in the door' as they say, I should be able to win him over. After all, he and I are both warriors, whereas the other two...one plays pretend and the other doesn't use the weapons of a true warrior!' While she thought this over quickly, trying to decide how best to ask him given her limited skills in Japanese, Ranma used the situation to try to break free from his admittedly rather comfy prison.

After a few seconds of struggling Ranma managed to extricate himself from Shampoo's chest, although he still seemed somewhat dazed from the experience; Shampoo saw this as her chance and quickly spoke up.

"Ranma go on date with Shampoo now, we make love good, Yes?" Unfortunately for Shampoo, she didn't realize the significance of the last several words at the time; she had only intended something like getting closer than Ranma in the emotional sense, not in the very physical sense. Unfortunately for her, Ranma obviously did understand the normal meaning as his eyes popped, his face turned beet-red, and he sped away as fast as he could while shouting garbled words over his shoulder.

"Why Ranma run?" Shampoo said softly as she watched him turn a corner, he was too close to the high school for her to reasonably catch up to him in time, especially at the rate he was going. Then she heard a woman passing by comment to the man at her side, "I always knew that that gaijin Shampoo was really a whore, she would do anything to get that Ranma boy, even try to seduce him into her bed in the middle of a street. Makes me sick!"

Shampoo was confused by the words and wondered, 'What did the ugly outsider woman mean by that? I wasn't trying to seduce him. At least, not then.' She replayed the conversation with Ranma over in her head and this time her cheeks burned like Ranma's had as she finally understood the significance of what she had said to him, thanks to a half-remembered lesson from her great-great grandmother Cologne about that particular phrase.

"Stupid language, stupid Shampoo! Hmmph! Shampoo wish she no have worry about stupid thing like that." She then sighed in exasperation and dismay.

"You seem to have a problem with our language, I can help you with it if you like."

Shampoo whirled around so she was looking at the man who had just said this. "Excuse me?" As she said that she quickly retrieved her chúi from the pocket dimension she usually carried them in and got herself into a combat stance, not used to being surprised as she had just been. It was the same man that, although Shampoo didn't know it, Akane had run into in the market.

He then said, a trace of fear on his face if not in his voice, "I can help you with your troubles, my name is Aijou, I am a wish-granter; if you are willing to pay the price I will grant you a wish. Although there are certain conditions, the wish and price involved must only affect you, the price must be more valuable to me than the wish, and you may only make one wish."

He paused to take a single breath then continued speaking at exactly the same pace as before.

"Side-effects are: you and those you know will be unable to notice that anything has changed and will think the wish had always been in effect and you will forget you have ever made said wish." He spoke all of this mechanically and in an even monotone, as if he had said it hundreds of times. His bored face added to the impression. "Do you have any questions?"

'How many times has he said that before?' Shampoo wondered, then she shrugged; it said a great deal about her worldview that she was more surprised by the idea that he had recited that so many times he was bored by what he was saying than by the fact that a man off the street had just offered her the chance to make a wish, although, considering it was Nerima, it was easily understandable.

With all her experience of both using and being targeted by magical items and spells, Shampoo was used to the idea of magic causing all kinds of strange and unpredictable things, so she was rather relieved at the thought of the consequences being spelt out beforehand. She thought excitedly, 'Hmm, this is a great chance to improve my chances with Ranma; I can make it so it is easier for me to show him why it is better to choose me then either Violent Pervert Girl or Spatula Girl. Hmm, another thought, I wonder if they will remember I had the abilities I will be giving up; if so I might be able to take advantage of the price'. "If Shampoo make wish, will others remember price Shampoo paid?"

"No they will not, why?"

Shampoo smiled happily, "Too-too good reason!" 'Now I get two benefits; I can remove my abilities with that stupid herbal shampoo and Ranma will forget that little incident, plus I will be able to speak proper Japanese and not look like a complete ditz!' She conveniently ignored the fact that she should have been learning it with Cologne (but she had been spending her study time day-dreaming of her beloved Airen), as well as the fact that it was also the way she acted that led to the impression of her being a bit off, at least in the eyes of those other than her beloved.

Shampoo smiled and carefully said, "Shampoo want wish for ability to talk Japanese better and pay with all knowledge of Amazon herbal shampoos."

She then waited while Aijou thought it over a few seconds before saying, "Fine, I AGREE TO YOUR TERMS!" in a shout.

There was a rushing noise and a bright green light enveloped her from all sides in a dome of crackling energy. A golden symbol of a set of merchant's weights was superimposed on the dome and then…

Shampoo calmly climbed back onto her bicycle before continuing her delivery route around Nerima. "Lets see if, after I complete today's work, I could have a nice long conversation with my Airen and show him why I am by far the best of his choices in every way." She let out a little giggle before speeding off to deliver her customers their orders of ramen, courtesy of the Nekohanten.

* * *

Aijou smirked a little, pleased at how he had made another good deal; the ability to speak Japanese was a relatively common, if valuable one, but the ability to make those Amazon herbal shampoos was extremely rare, because of the Amazons' trying to keep them as secret as possible.

'Still, although it was a great deal for me, I suspect that it was an equally great deal for her, considering how much that knowledge has cost her, at least, from what I 'saw'.' Aijou had to admire the young woman's strategic thinking, as few people took the time to make sure that the cost was as much of a benefit to them as the wish...

**Author's Notes:** As you have probably noticed by this chapter, Akane isn't the only one who gets a little wish. There will be consequences both positive and negative to each wish both in the short run and the long run, for example, as Akane is now the "Most beautiful girl in Nerima", a side effect of that might be a certain degree of arrogance because of her beauty. And as my first reviewer surmised, there might be consequences to her NOT being randomly kidnapped by random lovesick men, although she will probably draw as much attention as before, simply to sheer beauty.


	3. Ukyo's Decision

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 3**

**Ukyo's Decision**

_Determination defines me..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Friday February 17, 1994**_

"Ugh!" Ranma grunted as he slowed back down from his previous high speeds. "Why won't they all leave it alone!? I don't need them throwing themselves at me, or getting jealous if the others do! Why don't they get that I don't need or want any fiancées!?" He then entered the schoolyard and, after punting a particular kendoist into lower earth orbit, stomped into Furinken high's doors without a backward glance. If he had looked back he would have seen a girl behind him with tears in her eyes as she slowly followed him into the classroom.

She had long dark brown hair bound with a white ribbon, expressive brown eyes and, thanks to her current clothing (which was a boy's school uniform), a somewhat androgynous appearance. This illusion was bolstered by the fact that every morning she would bind her breasts, a legacy of the ten years she had pretended to be a boy while in search of vengeance against someone who had never intended to cause her harm.

Ukyo had been planning on surprising her best friend and fiancé Ranma before class with a quick pair of okonomiyaki with the sauce done in the pattern of a heart on top when she heard him start on his little monologue. However, she now had something new and important to think about.

She sat at her desk next to Ranma and slumped down, holding her head in her hands as she started to mull over what her fiancé had said. 'What does Ranma mean by, "I don't need or want any fiancées?" Doesn't he love me and want to marry me?' Her subconscious mind responded with several instances of him clearly demonstrating he wasn't willing or at least was unready to marry her, at least not yet, and she sighed, depressing thoughts running through her mind for a moment before she refocused.

'Well, on the bright side it seems he doesn't want any of the other fiancées either, but that won't mean much if he doesn't want me either.' She agonized for several minutes over this without noticing a word the teacher said; while she was normally a pretty good student, this was more important to her, so no stupid schoolwork was going to get between her and the boy she loved.

She then noticed to her mild relief that at no point had he said that he DIDN'T love her; just that he didn't need or want any fiancées. This thought gave her a faint smile. Unfortunately he said the same thing about the others, but she didn't really pay attention to that thought, as she figured that she could win out over them in the long run, no matter how attractive they were.

'Why wouldn't he want me as a fiancée though? Doesn't he want me as his fiancée?' She took her time thinking it over, mulling it over one way then the other. In the end she came to a conclusion. 'I need to talk to him, I need to know one way or the other what he really thinks about the situation. I hope that I will be able to help him with it; after all, if he wants none of us as fiancées, I owe him help with that as his best friend.' She smiled at the thought then frowned. 'But what if it's only me he doesn't want?' She didn't want to make a decision about THAT question just then so she glanced over at Ranma.

'Aw he's sleeping; he looks so cute and peaceful when he is like that. I wish I could see him like this more often, like Akane can. She can see him all the time while I have to make do with just school and the times he comes over to my restaurant to eat. Stupid violent tomboy! She doesn't even appreciate how lucky she is!' She gritted her teeth as a wave of jealousy passed through her.

'I mean, she gets to see him all the time as she lives with him, she has a body like a model and she gets to beat on him constantly without any real repercussions or consequences.' Ukyo rationalized her own beatings on Ranma away in this little mental dialogue, mainly because they were fewer and, in her opinion, for far better reasons. 'She could at least appreciate how good she has it instead of moaning about it all the time!' Then Ukyo thought of something that brought a smile to her face.

'On the other hand, Ranma did say that he doesn't want or need her as a fiancée either. She is in the same boat as me and the best part is she probably doesn't even know it. Still though, it would really help if I knew what Ranchan was really thinking; after all, it is HIS choice who he wants.' Then she thought of something that made her shudder.

'What if he wants me to dump the engagement because he doesn't need or want us fiancées? Am I willing to risk all of my chances with him to help him? I could just pretend I never heard it, then my chances aren't that bad. But if I ask him and he says he doesn't want me as a fiancée, I think I would owe him as his best friend to step out of the race and I would lose then by default to either Akane or that ridiculous Shampoo. I couldn't bear that! I spent more than half my life on him!'

She looked over at Ranma as he started to snore a little and smiled a little sadly. 'I love him; even if he doesn't want me to be his fiancée it is something that someone who really loves him would do. Even if it costs me everything I dream of, I WILL ask him!' She decided to bring him to her restaurant and talk to him in private during lunch, which the principle, in one of the better of his decisions, allowed as it saved the school money in some cases. If they had a private conversation during lunch, he at the least wouldn't run until after he had eaten and Ukyo figured that she would be able to weasel it all out of him.

She then sighed and stared forlornly at Ranma's sleeping form for a couple minutes. 'Until then though, I have to sit and wait for lunch.' While she normally wouldn't mind waiting in class until then, she was a woman on a mission today and she knew there was no way she was going to be able to focus on the teacher at all this morning.

Ukyo spent the rest of the morning zoned out while day-dreaming thoughts that ranged from those of just spending time at the restaurant talking with him for no reason to...unladylike thoughts of their honeymoon that she hoped they would still be able to have after the planned talk. 'Mmm; on the honeymoon, definitely bring plenty of okonomiyaki sauce.' This continued until lunch brought an end to the class...

* * *

Aijou sighed as the brunette walked away, heading inside the school; he knew that the girl, Ukyo Kuonji from his mental reading, was the third of the main three girls vying for the heart of one Ranma Saotome, and he had wondered out of curiosity what she might wish for...

'Oh well, for people like these, their choices can have just as much of an effect as any wish. Still, I would have liked to have gotten the full set...'

**Author's Notes: **As you guys may have noticed, Aijou wasn't involved in this chapter, don't be fooled though, this fanfiction isn't just about choices made through wishes, it is also about choices like the one that Ukyo just made.

I know that it is unlikely that Ranma would ever ask her to give up the engagement, but I feel that part of the reason that Ukyo fights so strongly for Ranma is because she believes that deep down he truly wants her and is just playing hard to get with her. If he told her that he didn't want the engagement, even if he didn't ask her to give it up, I think she would give it up because she, like probably the majority of the fiancées, is truly in love with him. Also, she has the least to lose, relatively speaking, if they don't end up together, because she will still be his childhood friend.

She knows she would give it up if this happened and that is the reason in my fanfic that she has never truly confronted him about whether or not she wants the engagement. That is why this was a hard choice for her, to do the right thing and ask him what is making him miserable about the whole fiancée situation or to simply pretend that she didn't hear and keep going like she has always done.

Maximara: Very interesting thought about people she hasn't met, but to describe what Aijou meant, its like intellectually they know that the person wasn't that way before, but they never think about it and it has no emotional significance to them. Also, he wasn't lying, what he meant was that only the person who made the wish can be directly affected by it or pay the price for it.

DiMeraslover: Very good guess, Aijou is basically a dealer of abilities, we probably won't see him too often after the next chapter, just like with the magic item purveyors we see in the Manga who only appear one or two chapters and then are forgotten. There is one more wish planned from him then we will bid him a fond farewell.

Ranko lina Inverse: You will be happy to know that Ranma is NOT intended to be one of the people to make the wish.

Chi Vayne: You won't have to worry, only one more wish is incoming. Plus, there are significant limits to what can be wished for. I won't go much into them, but Aijou is trading mostly relatively common attributes.

He won't be able to affect the power balance in Nerima in any significant way on the battlefield as the power that would be necessary to have any really significant effect for or against Ranma or any of his friends/rivals is far in excess of what Aijou can provide. It might be possible to wish for a new technique but its unlikely to be capable of really altering the balance.

As I said before, all the choices made in the fanfic will have consequences for both good and ill for the people who made them. They probably won't backfire spectacularly but they could lead to trouble in the long run.


	4. Hibiki Protocols

**Choices and Consequences **

**Chapter 4**

**Hibiki Protocols**

_Passion ignites me..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha.**

_**Friday February 17, 1994**_

"Hmm, Hokkaido seems very warm for this time of year."

It was a boy with messy black hair and a yellow headband who spoke these words, the eternally lost boy, Ryoga. The wish-granter, Aijou, blinked and stared at him, recognition finally coming to him without even needing to read his thoughts. 'Fangs, messy dark hair, yellow bandannas and no sense of direction whatsoever… it's either a complete idiot…or it's a Hibiki! Let's see now, what were the Hibiki protocols again?' He saw Ryoga leaving the area and quickly shouted, "Wait! Hibiki person! STOP!"

Ryoga Hibiki, about to turn the corner and probably end up some insane place like Okinawa inside of ten minutes, halted mid-step, turned, and looked back at the strangely dressed man who had called him by his family name. Suspiciously, Ryoga asked him, "Who are you and what do you want? Do I know you?!"

The unusual man smiled at Ryoga and replied, "I am Aijou, I am a wish-granter, I know of your rather strange clan and I have the ability to remove your directional problems..."

Ryoga frowned, unsure of what to make of this, but with the slightest glimmering of hope. 'I have never had something like this happen before in my life, no way it would happen now, let alone for free.' "What's the catch? What aren't you telling me?!"

Aijou groaned. 'Darn, now I HAVE to tell him the whole spiel!' He then planted his feet and began his recitation with a sigh...

"I can help you with your troubles, my name is Aijou, I am a wish-granter; if you are willing to pay the price I will grant you a wish. Although there are certain conditions, the wish and price involved must only affect you, the price must be more valuable to me than the wish, and you may only make one wish."

He paused to take a single breath then continued speaking at exactly the same pace as before.

"Side-effects are: you and those you know will be unable to notice that anything has changed and will think the wish had always been in effect and you will forget you have ever made said wish." He spoke all of this mechanically and in an even monotone, as if he had said it hundreds of times. His bored face added to the impression. "Do you have any questions?" Then he seemed to shake himself out of his bored funk. "However, I can remove your directional problems at no cost other than you losing your one wish.

Ryoga thought quickly. 'One wish affecting myself, Jusenkyo is part of me, that means I can cure my Jusenkyo curse finally!' Ryoga burst into what would have been the happiest grin any of the Nerima Wrecking Crew had ever seen from him before a stray thought stopped him. 'Wait, even if I didn't turn into a pig around her, I still couldn't see Akane more than once every couple of weeks unless I get really lucky. Maybe I would be better off if I just took the freebie.' "Wait a minute, why is it free to remove my directional problems?"

Aijou looked nervous about something. "Well you s-see. A long time ago, one of your ancestors made a wish to me and the problems you have been having are the c-cause. You see, this Koga person made a wish to have an blessing of misdirection put upon him; how was I supposed to know he meant that he wanted no one to be able to find him?! I mean it was clear that he wanted to have no sense of direction! It wasn't my fault!"

All of this was yelled in the kind of tone that let Ryoga know that, yes, it was entirely his fault. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then pebbles on the street began rising into the air and a visible aura surrounded Ryoga as he began to glare at Aijou who shrunk back into a nearby wall. Then Ryoga screamed at him, "So you mean to tell me that all of my directional problems are because you gave the head of our family a hereditary "blessing" of no sense of direction! What kind of idiot are you?! Who could possibly want to get lost all of the time!?"

'Make note, find ability that allows me to avoid all Hibikis in the VERY near future.' "Eheh, it was an accident, but l-look at it this way; I am here now so we can cure it!" He nodded his head frantically and seemed truly terrified of the young man; easily explainable by the fact that his battle aura now far outmatched anything that the Nerima Wrecking Crew had seen him with against Ranma on account of his sheer rage and the fact that, although he had some skill in the martial arts, it was a joke compared to that of any of the Neriman fighters.

However, Ryoga's mind was so used to him being in a state of anger or rage that he still had some of his intellectual functions working. He started thinking quickly, 'OK, lets see now, if I get this directional problem fixed Akane will still eventually have to find out about P-chan but if I don't get it fixed then how can I possibly win her if I rarely see her?' He roared, "Fine then! Remove my directional problems and get out of here!"

Aijou squeaked, "I A-AGREE T-TO YOUR TERMS!"

A cracking noise was heard, and red light erupted from Ryoga and back into Aijou's person as a golden symbol of a set of merchant's weights floating above him shattered, then...

Ryoga continued his walk while smirking, 'soon I will challenge Ranma and win, then when I have proved myself I will...' He slipped into a fantasy involving him and Akane, "...I shall win the heart of Akane Tendo once and for all!" He soon saw Furinken High and walked straight towards it; hopefully the wall would survive this time...

* * *

Aijou collapsed to the ground panting, 'Thank the Kami that a side effect of granting that wish was him not remembering me; if we never meet again, it will be too soon. That boy was truly terrifying.' He then picked himself and took the fastest route he could to get out of Nerima without looking back for fear of seeing a certain fanged boy.

Besides, it took a lot more energy to remove a 'blessing', even if it was voluntarily offered, than it took to take an ability, for he had to undo the powerful magical bonds that were a part of the transaction, so he was too tired to even try and execute a normal wish...

**Author's Notes: **This was not the only or even the main choice Ryoga has to make, but it was necessary for future parts of the plot. Although he didn't know it, there was actually no way for him to cure his Jusenkyo curse with the wish from Aijou as, since it is most likely incurable from anything other than the Jusenkyo water itself, none of the abilities Aijou has would enable him to cure it as there would likely be no-one to get such an ability from, as very few if any people would have the ability to cure such a curse. Also, being a curse, he cannot extract it as he would a blessing...

This was the final wish chapter. Things will begin to really start moving in the next chapter.

rewind gone nuts: I can neither confirm nor deny your allegations of a Ranma/Akane pairing at this time.) Thank you for your interest and I do hope you will continue your "Another Rainy Day in Nerima" Fanfic soon. I have been following it for a couple months now and do truly enjoy how you bring each pairing to life.

I forgot to mention this earlier as a reply to Chi Vayne's review of my first chapter but it also applies to your review; The ability to make random boys fall in love will have no DIRECT effect on Ranma or Ryoga as any affection from them has a rather solid base by now. However, it might remove Kuno's feelings on her (To her VAST relief you can all be sure), I haven't decided for or against that one yet.

ranko lina Inverse: Given that this was the last of the planned wish chapters, you no longer have to worry I believe about Ranma getting messed over by a wish.


	5. The Dangers of Lunch

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 5**

**The Dangers of Lunch**

_The risks of affection can be very high indeed..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Friday February 17, 1994**_

To Ukyo, the sound of lunch being called echoed through the halls of Furinken High School like a gong heralding the end of her dreams of attaining her Ranchan. Once again, she asked herself if she wouldn't be better off letting it slide. 'Hmm, maybe I am being a little bit melodramatic about this. Perhaps it would be better for me if I let things stay the way they are. Even if I am not winning at the moment, I might be able to pull out a 'come from behind victory'.'

Unfortunately, the little voice inside her head asked her quietly if 'the way things are' would be best for Ranma. Would HE be better off if she pretended that she had never heard him? She sighed, steeled herself and, turning towards the still sleeping Ranma, bopped him on the head with her battle spatula until he woke up.

"Erm, Akane? Is that you?"

She swallowed and said to him the words that would have terrified him if he had any real knowledge of male-female relationships beyond what his father had taught him or, rather, hadn't taught him, "Ranma-Honey, we need to talk. Would you like to have some free okonomiyaki at Ucchan's while we do so?"

Ranma seemed to be considering, then they both heard a voice saying something that truly did terrify him.

"Ranma, would you like to have lunch with me? I made it myself." If it had been just about anyone else, it probably would have been a good thing showing the affection that Akane was trying to demonstrate; however, as it was Akane, it mean that she was trying to attempt to poison Ranma via another one of the "meals" she had prepared. Ironically, in Ukyo's opinion, it was his so-called 'hot fiancée', rather than any of his rivals, who was most likely to actually kill Ranma.

On the bright side, this meant that Ranma had a very easy decision for a change, as there were few things worse than Akane's cooking. "Ukyo, let's go, NOW!" Ranma shouted as they both jumped out the window away from the assassin in a school uniform, who glared at them for a moment, before turning around in a huff.

As they ran at top speed to Ucchan's, Ukyo tried to let go of her doubts, but couldn't shake the suspicion that this would not go well for her at all, that Ranma would take this opportunity to permanently remove one of the three fiancées, solely to clear his mind. She glanced at Ranma; at the high speed he going he was a blur, but she could still see that smile that always made her heart stop, and she knew that, whatever the cost, if this conversation would cause him to smile like that more often, there was no way on earth she would avoid it. Her heavy heart lifted a little as they continued their fast-paced journey, with her still taking glances of her fiancé's smiling face.

* * *

As Ryoga arrived at school by HIS normal way, the wall around the school, as normal, did not survive the impact and crashed to the ground around him. As if that hadn't been enough to let the students of Furinken know he was there, Ryoga then shouted loudly, looking around for his eternal rival, "RANMA! Get out here!" There was a short pause while he waited for... apparently nothing to happen, then he heard an angry voice shout out in reply.

"He's not here, Ryoga, he left with one of his hussies, Ukyo, a few minutes ago."

As he looked at Akane, he saw her beautiful eyes flash with poorly hidden anger. Ryoga understood easily enough; even though she didn't have feelings for Ranma, that didn't mean that she would enjoy being passed over for some other girl, especially one who wasn't half as kind or beautiful as Akane.

Meanwhile, Akane sat down and glared angrily at the bento she had made for Ranma's lunch, heated with fury even though there was a slight breeze blowing under the tree she was sitting at, and she thought to herself, 'All I was trying to do was bring him something to eat, why wouldn't he at least try it before running, I mean it can't be that bad; Ryoga likes it after all.'

While she was thinking about this, Ryoga had started on another rant about Ranma and his malicious ways, growling as he did so. 'Can't Ranma just choose Akane or one of the others and be done with it?' Ryoga knew that the situation with Ranma and all the fiancées was far more complicated than that, but he didn't really want to think about it at the moment, especially as he was too busy being angry on Akane's behalf.

Akane sighed and thought dismally, 'I wish he would just try it and tell me how it tastes before rejecting it, maybe then I could improve it for next time. Hmm.' Then she noticed two things, Ryoga had stopped and was in his weird dazed mode again while staring off in the direction that happened to include her face and his stomach was growling like the roar of a lion his newest major technique was named after.

Akane then gave him a small smile, on most men guaranteed to send them into a lust-filled daze in under ten seconds thanks to her sheer beauty, and asked sweetly, "Oh Ryoga, would you mind eating this bento I made? I was going to give it to that jerk but he's gone with Ukyo."

Ryoga sweated heavily but forced a smile. "I would love to Akane; nothing could make me happier than to eat your food." It was partially true as, due to his shyness, it was one of the only ways he was able to express his affection for Akane; he just didn't mention that he quite agreed with Ranma when he said that it was so awful that even the bacteria on it refused to eat it.

Nonetheless, with Akane watching, he ate it quickly and forced something reasonably close to a smile; although in truth, he was trying desperately to stop himself from crying at the agony he was forcing himself to ingest. After finishing, he forced another smile and said, "Its deliciousss..." Then he collapsed, twitching, onto the ground into blessed unconsciousness.

* * *

Ukyo screwed up her courage as the last of the customers left her restaurant; she had just closed it so that she would have extra time to talk to her Ranchan without distractions. "Well then, let's talk." She said this with a falsely bright smile, which didn't quite make its way to her eyes, and Ranma nodded after taking another bite of his okonomiyaki, accidentally getting a little sauce on his right cheek, which he quickly wiped up.

Ukyo swallowed and looked into his eyes, worried that this might be the last time that she could talk to him as her fiancé. 'I hope I can still call him 'my Ranchan' after today...'

Swallowing again, Ukyo shook off her fears and continued, "You know, while I was heading to school today I heard you saying something rather strange, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but I had been getting ready to surprise you..."

Ranma sweated heavily and almost yelled back, clearly nervous, "As you heard I wasn't trying to sleep with Shampoo!"

Ukyo blinked. 'I wonder what that was about'. Normally, Ukyo would have jumped on that particular phrase, but today she had bigger fish to fry, so she let it go after making a mental note just in case.

She then continued carefully, trying to keep her voice perfectly pleasant and level, "OK... but I mean something ELSE you said on the way to school, something about your fiancées." Ranma looked completely terrified at this topic and seemed to be mumbling as he was unable to speak.

Ukyo drummed her fingers on the countertop and looked expectantly at him for a minute or two while waiting for him to speak; then she sighed and said quietly, trying to keep Ranma from bolting like the proverbial 'wild horse', "Look Ranchan, I want you to explain exactly what you meant by what you said; I promise not to hit you or anything but it is really important to me to understand what you meant."

He looked down a moment and Ukyo suspected that it would be bad to keep going but pressed on anyway, determined to find out what he meant, "In addition to being your fiancée I am your friend, and as your friend I really want to know what's bothering you, even if its bad news for me; I just want to help you."

'He probably has no idea how much that hurt to admit.' Ukyo thought to herself as she waited nervously for Ranma to respond.

Ranma looked at her carefully and with no small amount of worry in his eyes; but he seemed to see something on her face as he sighed and said quietly, glancing toward the door as he did so as if wishing he could just run out of it right then, "I will tell you Ucchan, but I doubt you will like it."

Ukyo swallowed and waited for him to continue. 'Oh darn it.'

* * *

Ryoga awoke to find himself staring at a ceiling that, over the past several months, had grown far too familiar for his liking, thanks entirely to frequent usage. He sat up slowly and looked around Doctor Tofu Ono's clinic, wondering for a moment how he had gotten there before he remembered eating Akane's...food.

Just as his gaze fell upon Akane she spoke in a dangerously quiet tone of voice, "I am glad you are awake." She seemed to be relieved that he had woken up, but he could tell she was furious at the same time. He shrank back as, from a tremendous amount of experience of watching it happen around Ranma (always deservedly), he knew she was about to explode in rage. He braced herself for either a malleting or shouting and was relieved that she chose the latter.

"RYOGA! WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!? I may not be the best chef ever but I sure as hell know that food that is 'delicious'..." She said that with a truly impressive level of sarcasm."...Doesn't knock people unconscious without poison being involved!" Akane felt awful about what her cooking had done to her friend, but that only added to her anger at him for clearly close to killing himself with what she had made. "TELL ME!" Akane shrieked in anger, causing Ryoga to wince, as he, with his enjoyment of long, cross-country hikes, had little experience in dealing with shrieking females.

Ryoga thought frantically about how to respond, he didn't want to lie to her but there was no way he was going to dare to tell her it was because he was in love with her and wanted to impress her, at least not yet. Still, he needed to say something...

Meanwhile, Akane thought to herself, 'Ugh, what was he thinking that is so bad that he is afraid to tell me?'

Finally, Ryoga said, deciding on a half-truth, "I rarely get to be with people I care about, so when I get the chance I try to show them how much I care. When I complimented you on your food it always caused your eyes to light and I love y...loved seeing that." He then sat there waiting nervously for her response with a shame-filled face.

Akane was still quite angry, but she was starting to feel like she was kicking an injured puppy, what with how Ryoga was acting. Finally, she sighed and opened her mouth just as Doctor Tofu walked into the room and worriedly asked the boy, "What happened to you Ryoga? I don't believe I have seen a worse case of food poisoning in all my years as a doctor."

Ryoga looked away as Akane quietly said, "He ate the lunch I made for Ranma."

Tofu paused and after looking disbelievingly at Akane before he replied, "Ryoga, food that has such on effect on the eater would have a taste that is easily...noticeable. I would suggest...purging any food that tastes like that immediately." He gave that a moment to soak in, then continued, "Now then, I am sorry but I have other patients I need to attend to." He left the room, clearly unhappy about what he had just heard.

Akane then sat down on the bed next to Ryoga, her beautiful face turned away from him, causing Ryoga to wonder, 'Is she still angry? Did he make her angrier? Why does she look so beautiful when she is angry?'

"You know, Ranma always asks me why I don't taste my food before serving it; I would, but have always been sure that its as delicious as you always say it is." Akane finally said, voice slightly wobbly.

He noticed that she was shaking as her hands gripped the edge of the bed tightly; although he couldn't see her face, he thought she might be crying as she continued, "I want to be a great cook; I want people to love what I eat especially... never mind. I try so hard when I cook, so hard...I want to improve but everyone refuses to even taste what I make except you. I keep trying to make them try it so that they will tell me what is wrong with it, but they just tell me it tastes like trash or refuse to eat it; I can never improve."

Akane then said in an angry tone, if one that lacked much venom, "And now you! You were supposed to be the one person I could trust, and now what? You've been lying to me all along? Why...?"

Ryoga just watched practically paralyzed as she turned back to him, her eyes brimming with tears...

* * *

'Wow.' She had never seen anything like this before, it was a young lavender-haired women riding her bike on the top of a fence and up a telephone pole merely to deliver some ramen with a smile to the man in the house across the street from her. After the customer went back inside, the young woman dropped the smile and looked anxiously towards what appeared to be the local high school while sighing. "Ranma, I hope I can see you after school and my route."

The kimono-clad red-haired woman quickly walked over to her, excited to hear what the young woman might know about her son, saying calmly and politely, yet in a tone of eagerness, "Ranma? Ranma Saotome? Do you know of my son?"

Shampoo looked at her and smiled slightly, before responding with a tone of secret happiness, thrilled to meet the other, probably better, parent of her husband-to-be, "Yes I know Ranma Saotome, he is my Airen, my beloved!"

The woman looked thrilled to meet Shampoo and quickly said with a polite bow, "My name is Nodoka Saotome, Ranma Saotome's mother. You must be Miss Akane Tendo! Although I must admit I did think you would be Japanese." She said this with a tone of cautious joy while Shampoo looked like she had just swallowed some of Akane's cooking but managed to keep the smile on her face.

Not enjoying the possibility that this Nodoka might be supporting Akane like Genma, Shampoo said nevertheless, "No my name is Shampoo, I am from China where I met your son."

Now Nodoka looked puzzled and asked, "I thought that Ranma was engaged to marry an Akane Tendo but you are calling him your beloved. Could you please explain?"

Shampoo looked at her and quietly said, thinking quickly, "It's a very long story, how about I tell it after we get to know each other more? Besides, I'll bet you have a great many stories of Airen from when he was little; just like I have a bunch of stories about how he is now. How about we trade stories tonight after I finish my route? You can come to the Nekohanten and have some of our delicious ramen 'on the house', spend the night there, then tomorrow we can go see your son."

Nodoka thought to herself, 'Well, if this woman claims my son as her beloved she must have a lot of stories about him, it would be nice to know more about him before I meet him tomorrow.' Nodoka nodded slowly, agreed, and asked for directions to the Nekohanten before heading off to look around town while Shampoo continued on her delivery route.

**Author's Notes: **Yes I know that the ending contradicts canon as she seems to be able to tell her food is edible versus inedible in the Ryugenzawa arc and the cherry-blossom Mochi arc, but by the time I remembered that I had already finished the chapter. I hope I can be forgiven as I feel that it would make a lot of what she does make sense if she was unable to tell that her food was truly awful. Also, it is crucial to a subplot to the story.

In case some of the readers are wondering, the wishes have altered perceptions slightly, for example, Akane is now considered the 'hot fiancée', while Ryoga thinks that he enjoyed going on his long trips (Snort!). They should have small effects like that throughout the remainder of the story.

In a side note, in the story I am creating, in the timeline without the wishes, what Shampoo would have said is, "Shampoo hope to see Airen after school." Obviously that wouldn't have caused Nodoka to ask her any questions and thus would have led to the events we see in the manga involving Nodoka.

I suppose now would be a good point to let all of you know the primary romantic pairings for the fanfiction. They are: Ranma/Akane, Ryoga/Akane, Ranma/Ukyo and Ranma/Shampoo. Just to be clear, the final romantic pairings won't be revealed until very far into what would be the manga timeline, close to the end; until then though each pairing will be getting a lot of screentime. You can also be quite certain that the firstending won't be a harem (although I make no promises about other endings (I am considering more than one ending in this fanfiction so even if your pairing doesn't win in the first round it might win the second round)).

Chi Vayne: You are probably right about Kuno, although I must admit that I would love the idea of sparing everyone from suffering from his attempts to 'rescue' Akane from Ranma. As for Ryoga and the duel that started it all between him and Ranma, I think that their rivalry has moved far past that. In my opinion, the main reasons they fight now are, to test themselves against one another, because both have at the least affection for Akane, and (for Ryoga) to beat someone they have never beaten before in a actual challenge as a sort of self-test.

rewind gone nuts: The fact that Ryoga is the descendent of a demon probably won't have too much effect on the plot, although, as the story goes on, that might change. I can pretty well guarantee this work won't have much in the way of crossovers however, the Ranma crew is crazy enough for me to deal with, what with Ranma always asking for a bigger role and such.

As for the curse, I was always under the impression that the water from the springs of Jusenkyo wouldn't cause the curses to be cured, but rather to mix, a la Pantyhose Taro. Although I wouldn't mind being wrong about that. Even if I am though, I strongly suspect that the ability to cure Jusenkyo curses would be rare to the point that Aijou would not have that ability.

Too bad about the waiting period, on the other hand it will certainly be interesting to see how you will take that particular oneshot.

**Edited 5/6/09**


	6. Promises

**Choices and Consequences **

**Chapter 6**

**Promises **

_To show our true feelings to others..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

Friday February 17, 1994

Ranma started talking uncomfortably, seeming to sense that what he said wouldn't be taken well, "Well Ucchan, what I meant is well...I don't wanna get married anytime soon. Its my dad and you guys that seem to think that I want to get married now, but in reality, its just too soon, if I'm gonna marry someone, I wanna get to know them first..."

Normally Ukyo would probably have interjected a comment about how they already knew each other from long ago, so that part had already been gotten out of the way, but she felt it would be best to let him finish first this time before she started trying to change his mind.

"...Plus I really wanna focus on the art, you know?" He looked at Ukyo sadly and audibly swallowed, apparently not enjoying saying this any more than Ukyo was enjoying hearing it, before continuing, "Ucchan, my point is there's not much point in trying to get me to marry you now as I am not interested nor do I need it at this time." Now apparently finished, Ranma just looked at Ukyo worriedly, like he thought she was a bomb that might explode at any moment.

Ukyo just stood behind the counter staring at him, anger building as she did so. 'So all I have been doing while I was here the last couple months to win him was MEANINGLESS!? I just wasted my time in pursuit of getting him to do something he has no intention of doing; this really, REALLY SUCKS!'

Ranma was still sitting there, just waiting for what he probably expected would be an inevitable blow-up of feminine outrage. At the moment, she was sorely tempted to oblige him but, with a great effort, managed to control her anger for the moment and asked him, forcing a calmness into her voice which she didn't feel, "Well, if you aren't interested in marriage with me, what do you want from me? Do you want me to drop the engagement Ranchan?" She hoped against hope he wouldn't say yes but, given her luck so far in this conversation, Ukyo figured she was probably screwed and wondered whether or not he would take the time to use anesthesia before ripping her heart out.

Ranma looked shocked at her question and for a moment she was annoyed. 'Does he really think I can't be reasonable about this? I mean, sure, I overreact a lot, but this is something I jumped into both eyes open. Of course I am ready for whatever he might say...more or less...'

Then he said carefully and she carefully paid attention to every single word or noise he made, "Well, it would be a great thing if all of you would stop it with the attempted marriages, the fights over me at school, the love potions, the sneaky tricks and stuff like that. I mean, I don't know any of ya well enough to spend the rest of my life with ya, but I don't think I want any of ya to give up if that is what you want. I just wish you all would sorta tone it down a bit."

Ukyo quashed any resentment as best as she could before responding, knowing that this was a better outcome than she could have probably hoped for, then immediately moved into bargaining-mode, saying, "OK, Ranchan, how does this sound? I promise to stop trying to force you to marry, fighting over you and such..." He started to nod before she put up a hand to stop him, then went on,"...But I want you to promise me something as well, promise me that you won't get married to anyone unless it is YOUR idea and YOU are in love with the girl and YOU want to spend the rest of your life with HER."

After thinking it over a little he nodded and smiled slightly at her. "OK Ucchan, I promise."

They just sat there for a little bit in silence when Ukyo spoke again, "You know Ranchan, this has gotten me thinking, we always claim to be friends, but shouldn't a real friend know this sort of thing without having to go through a big confrontation? I'm not saying you need to tell me everything you are thinking, but if its important, whether its about the engagement or not, you should feel safe in telling me it." She just looked at him a couple seconds out of the corner of her eye before sighing and saying, "Just think on it, even with this mess with the fiancéeship and such I promise that we will always be friends at the very least."

Ranma looked at her and she could tell that his smile was back to heart-stopping levels again as he smiled at her. "I promise that we will always be friends as well, whatever happens." They grinned a little at each other, then Ranma started to leave the restaurant and head back to school. He seemed to notice she wasn't following him and asked, "Coming Ucchan?"

She looked down at the counter-top and quietly replied, needing time to come to terms with the sudden change in dynamic of their relationship as well as the fact that he DIDN'T want to marry her, at least not right then, "If its alright, I think I will skip class today, I have some stuff to think about."

Ranma looked at her carefully, then shrugged, apparently missing her attitude, saying, "Suit yourself, Ucchan."

* * *

Akane was still sitting next to Ryoga on the hospital bed and crying, furious at Ryoga for how he had practically put himself into the hospital. 'Stupid Ryoga, I am glad he was willing to eat it, unlike Ranma, but he didn't have to half kill himself!' She was still angry that he hadn't been honest about how her food tasted, but she was even sadder that a good friend of hers had been hurt because of her food.

Suddenly, she heard a voice say quietly, "Akane..." She then looked at him out of one eye, still crying, and waited for him to say something.

Ryoga then swallowed and thought to himself nervously, 'Maybe this is a good chance to show her how much I love her, but is this the right time? I did just get nearly killed by her cooking after all...'

Still unsure, he hadn't come to a decision yet when Akane surprised him by asking, "Yes Ryoga? What is it?"

Ryoga, feeling put on the spot, decided to show her how he felt then and there... sort of. He looked her in the eyes and said carefully, wanting her to understand what he was saying even if he wasn't really saying it, "I always like eating your cooking because YOU make it, even if it is a little...unsavory, or even dangerous, I want to eat every bite of it because it always makes you smile when someone eats it. I love it when you smile like that so much."

Ryoga then waited her for to accept or reject his feelings, thinking to himself, 'I think I made it pretty clear how I feel, I hope she accepts my feelings!' His heart then raced as Akane smiled at him although she was still crying a bit. 'Yes, yes, YES! She is smiling at me! My dreams are coming true! She really loves me!'

Akane then said, sky-blue eyes gleaming in happiness, "Ryoga, I had no idea you felt that way...You really are such a good friend!" She threw her arms around him as two conflicting feelings warred within him, happiness because she was hugging him, and frustration because this girl he loved just didn't GET IT.

'OK, one more time Ryoga, let's make sure she understands.'

Swallowing, Ryoga then said carefully, putting his hands on her shoulders as he did so, "Akane, I promise that I will always eat whatever you make for me and tell you what I really think about it; its the least I can do to show you just how much I care about you."

Akane then beamed at him, before saying brightly, "I will be happy to make you dinner tomorrow if you like but..."She wagged her finger at him, frowning for a moment as she continued in a more serious tone, "...if you can't finish it I don't mind, I don't want to see you in the hospital again. I really care about you too; you are just such a great friend, Ryoga..."

She started to walk out of the hospital; paused, and turned back to look at him flashing a smile through what was left of her tears, making Ryoga's heart skip a beat, "Ryoga, thank you."

She then left and Ryoga started crying, not from sadness but from sheer frustration. 'URGH! Maybe Ranma is right about how thick she can be! Still, I guess I can accept this, for now at least. Eventually though I WILL make it clear even to her how I feel about her!' He made a fist and his aura blazed brightly at this mental declaration for a moment before he fell back into unconsciousness again, for the meal he had eaten had really been truly awful.

* * *

Shampoo had just finished her deliveries when she saw Ranma and Akane returning from school; both appeared subdued for a change and weren't even looking at each other, let alone talking to each other. Ranma was walking on the ground instead of doing balance training by walking on the fence, and the two of them were behaving very oddly indeed.

Nonetheless, rather than allow this to trouble her, Shampoo simply followed her usual strategy and attempted to perpetrate vehicular manslaughter upon Ranma via her bicycle of death.

As usual, he failed to notice in time and his face ended up firmly planted in the ground as she dismounted in order to glomp him as he got up. However, right before she glomped him she noticed that his eyes seemed dead and instead of her usual glomp and rub plan she placed her palm on his cheek and asked him, "Are you alright, Airen?"

Ranma didn't even look at her and Akane just kept walking without even an "Hmmpf" back. Ranma then said quietly, barely even seeming to notice her, "Shampoo, now isn't a really good time, could you just leave me alone for a bit?"

He continued walking back to the Tendos slowly, while Shampoo decided to follow him and walked alongside him, her face showing the worry she felt for him, as this was very unusual for him.

After a few minutes of walking they could see the Tendos and, since her window of opportunity for a private conversation would be over as soon as he went inside, she decided to breach the wall of silence that had fallen between them, saying quietly, glancing over at Akane to be sure she wasn't listening in, "Ranma, if you are worried about something, you can always talk to me about it, I won't laugh at you or anything." She could tell he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye in response to that, and smiled slightly.

"Really...?" Ranma asked hesitantly.

Shampoo smiled faintly, saying quietly, still not wanting to bother Akane, which would probably put a fast end to their conversation, "I am your wife after all; of course I care about how you are feeling..."

He flinched and looked away, apparently that had been the wrong thing to say, even if it was the truth. He then said dully, "Thanks anyway Shampoo. I will see you later I guess."

He was about to walk away when Shampoo remembered that she had something for him, so she quickly said, "Wait Ranma! I forgot to give you something." She fumbled in her pantsuit for a moment then drew out a letter, which she then offered to him. "Here you go, it's a letter for your father from..." She decided to leave it a surprise for Ranma for tomorrow. "...someone he knows from a while ago. There is a pretty good chance that she and I will be stopping over tomorrow."

He nodded and took the letter, smiling slightly. "Well, guess I might see ya tomorrow then." He then walked away and was about to enter the Tendo's main house when a sudden freak gust of wind flung a spray of water at him from a nearby puddle. "Darn it! Just one day without the dumb curse, please!" He shouted to the sky as Shampoo giggled a little, got back on her bike, and started riding back to the Nekohanten.

* * *

Cologne carefully considered the conversation she had had with Mrs. Nodoka Saotome. 'All in all it went fairly well for our side; while she wants to meet with the other fiancées, she clearly seems to like the idea of some of our laws, especially the ones involving multiple marriages given her apparent obsession with grandchildren. Also, considering the mess that that panda has made of her family's honor with all the engagements as well as how much honor matters to her, I can easily see why multiple marriages would make things significantly more convenient. Although neither Son-in-Law nor Shampoo would likely be interested in multiple marriages it certainly wouldn't be a problem for us if Nodoka supports us because of the possibility.'

She then considered the thing that worried her the most, the Seppuku contract that Nodoka had had Genma and Ranma agree to in order to go on the fourteen-year training trip, which made her shudder, as the thought of a woman honestly being willing to kill her own son if he didn't fulfill the terms of a contract* was one of the most heinous things she had heard of in her time as an Amazon matriarch.

After all, it was an extremely vague oath from what Cologne had heard, and could easily be turned into a death sentence for either the boy or his father. 'It's madness! How can anyone DEFINE the term 'man among men'!? It's completely arbitrary, so how could ANYONE live up to it!?'

Mentally cursing Nodoka's foolish contract, Cologne then balanced on her cane like a chair as she continued to ponder. 'Hmm, if she discovers Son-in-Law's curse, she might kill him on the spot. While I can tell she cares deeply about him, her concern for her family's honor is very great and she might choose that over his life. She already knows where Ranma and his father are staying and after fourteen years of waiting I doubt she has any intention of waiting any more time before seeing them again...'

Cologne then considered an alternative, 'Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea to talk to that panda Genma, even if he is a worthless cheat and coward there are few with more practice in evading the consequences of their mistakes. He also likely knows Nodoka and how to deal with her better than I ever will.' After a little more thought, she came to a decision and called Shampoo, who quickly rushed over to her.

"Yes, Great-Grandmother?"

Cologne looked her straight in the eyes in order to impress upon her the gravity of the task she was giving her, then said in her matriarchal tone of voice, making it clear that this was not something that Shampoo could afford to get wrong, "Shampoo, tomorrow we will be going to the Tendos with Nodoka to have her reunite with Ranma and Genma, however, the way they are now, she might kill them if she discovers their curses..."

Shampoo was horrified by what she had just heard, but Cologne continued unflinchingly, "... Because of a Seppuku contract they signed before they left on their fourteen-year training trip that if Genma failed to raise Ranma to be a 'man among men' they would have to commit Seppuku. Obviously, I have my doubts that she would consider Son-in-Law to be particularly manly with his curse. Now then, in order to prevent Son-in-Law from having to carry out this contract, I will speak to Genma about how to protect Son-in-Law and his father from her."

Taking a quick breath to focus herself, Cologne then said carefully, "What I need you to do is to make sure she understands just how manly her son is while following whatever plan the panda and I cook up without giving her any reason to get suspicious; if she gets suspicious then it will be far more difficult to carry out our plan and any charade we create to protect the two of them could collapse around our ears. Be ready for anything, its possible I won't get the chance to tell you whatever it is we have cooked up."

At that, Shampoo nodded and, now that she had given Shampoo her instructions, Cologne quickly pogo-ed over to the Tendo residence; she knew that she would need all the benefits of her centuries of life-experience in order to deal with what tomorrow would bring even with the questionable help of Genma Saotome.

* * *

Later that night, Shampoo found herself particularly grateful that Mousse had been training overnight in order to 'free Shampoo from that cad Saotome' as, if he had heard any of the conversations that night, she wouldn't be surprised if Mouse had 'accidentally' let it slip to Nodoka about her Airen's curse, in Shampoo's own best interests of course. She then sighed as she thought to herself, 'Stupid Mousse.'

She then started to drift off to sleep as she considered ways to help her Mother-in-Law understand just how 'manly' Ranma was tomorrow. 'Airen really does have a strange family, a father that turns into a panda who has engaged him to a swarm of women, a mother who will kill him if she finds out about his little curse, and himself, who has more engagements than any man would ever need and could play both the husband and wife in any marriage on his own.' She mused as she fell into a deep sleep.

**Author's Notes: **Some of you may have noticed that we haven't seen Ranma's viewpoint at all in this fic. This is completely intentional; while he is and will be a main character it seemed like it would add more to the plot if we didn't see his point of view. While he is very expressive with his actions and words as he wears his heart on his sleeve, I felt it would add more depth to the plot, especially with three of the pairings that will be the primary focus including him, if we had to intuit what he was really feeling or thinking rather than actually know it. After all, how are the other characters supposed to make the right choices involving him if even we can't be sure how he would feel about them?

In my timeline, the reason that the Amazons never mentioned the multiple marriages possibility is because they felt that Ranma might be insulted by the idea and wouldn't go for it, in addition to the obvious fact that Shampoo isn't particularly interested in the idea, although she might consider it in an absolute, worst-case scenario. However, with Nodoka in the picture, it would certainly improve their chances with as she would definitely be supportive of the idea of cutting through any legal issues with Ranma having multiple mistresses and fixing the gaping hole that Genma has made of the family honor.

I don't know if it is fanon or canon, but in this fic, Nodoka does support the idea of Ranma, 'man among men', having lots of mistresses as a sign of his 'manliness'. It doesn't mean that Ranma is supportive of this idea in any way, although its POSSIBLE he might be persuaded.

rewind gone nuts: You have a point and I have slightly edited the previous chapter to reflect it. I realized that the story wouldn't be majorly hurt by the correction and such; thus the edit.

Unfortunately, while I have read all of the books, I do not own, nor do I have access to them for easy reference so if this supposition I am about to make cannot be supported by canon, could someone please correct me quickly as its presence or absence will have major effects on the upcoming plot.

I plan on portraying Akane's issues with cooking as because she wants to do well so much and tries so hard that she ends up trying too hard and 'does too much with the ball' so it all blows up in her face. Mix that with a healthy dose of arrogance so she has difficulty asking for help and that leads to the awful meals and apparent lack of learning. However, she could improve quite rapidly if she managed somehow to avoid that particular mistake...

I did not know that about the curse and I am glad you mentioned it. Again though, the ability would still be rare enough I doubt Aijou would have the ability to cure it as part of his repertoire so it wouldn't have any effect on the plot.

Tribun: While I didn't mention it explicitly in this chapter, you can be sure that Cologne explained Amazon law to her, given that, at multiple times in canon from what I read, Nodoka is willing to kill her son over a Seppuku contract made before he understood what it means, I doubt she would have any particular trouble with either the 'Kiss of Death' or 'Kiss of Marriage' laws.

**Edited 5/8/09**


	7. The Mother of all Problems

**Choic****es and Consequences**

**Chapter 7**

**The Mother of all Problems**

_Even if you can't see me, I'll be there, mom..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**One Day Later Saturday February 18, 1994**_

Thus far, it had been a rather unusual day for Akane; it had started with the anniversary of her mother's death as usual, wherein she had gotten up after the same dream about her mother she had had the last several times this day rolled around. However, the rest of it was quite different; Ranma and his father had been too busy yelling at each other about the latest crisis to particularly care about the fact that it was a very important day to her family.

They didn't even bother to stop shouting at each other long enough to say goodbye when they left, to Akane's great disappointment and anger; it had been all she could do to keep herself from going up to Ranma and slapping him for how he was acting, but she reminded herself not to dishonor her mother by reacting in violence...at least until she was done with paying respects to her.

The trip to the graveyard had been uneventful, it had gone the same way as the last year and all the years before that; they paid their respects to the dead Mrs. Tendo, reminded each other a bit about her, cried a little, then returned home.

When they arrived however, Akane had found a strange sight: a redheaded middle-aged woman in a kimono who was carrying a long thin package and sitting across the table from Ranma, who was in girl form, and Genma, who was in his panda form. The woman had introduced herself as Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother and she had appeared to be a very nice and polite woman… with the exception of that whole business with the Seppuku contract if Ranma wasn't a "Man among Men", of course. At least, she had appeared to be nice until that whore Shampoo had arrived, whereupon Nodoka showed her true colors.

Nodoka had then acted like she and Shampoo were the best of friends, and had spent all of lunch belittling Akane's beauty and blaming her for a lot of what she heard had been going on between her and Ranma. All the while, Shampoo had been grinning widely and keeping herself close to Ranma, which had only incensed Akane further because he clearly wasn't resisting her very hard.

In addition, Nodoka had embarrassed her with questions about whether Akane thought Ranma was 'manly', well groomed, and handsome in front of Shampoo, Ranma, Genma, and her whole family. Akane had been unable to say anything in front of Shampoo without blushing like a tomato, as it was just so embarrassing to say anything like that in front of anyone, let alone Ranma and Shampoo.

"...And then Shampoo had the nerve to call me 'insecure' and even implied I was jealous! Can you believe that P-chan?" Her pet pig shook his cute little head with the wide, expressive eyes so hard and fast he fell off of the pillow he had been sitting on. Akane giggled and then, as her P-chan gave her what might have been a look of betrayal had he been human, she started outright laughing at his antics for several minutes as the black piglet went red for some reason.

Akane then sighed, exasperated. 'Stupid Ranma, hanging off of that floozy Shampoo during my humiliation! I am definitely better looking after all; if he is hanging off of anyone it should be me! Err...not that I would be interested anyway!'

She then glared out her window and said, "At least Ryoga doesn't hang off of everyone he sees..." P-chan nodded vigorously at this. "...The same is true for Mousse; he just focuses on Shampoo and ignores other women...when he doesn't think that another woman is Shampoo that is..." She then laid back on her bed alongside of P-chan. "I wonder how the perverted idiot enjoyed lower earth orbit again..." She smiled a little at the thought and giggled a bit before just hugging her P-chan, who she would almost say was smiling.

* * *

"YAAAAAAH!"

Ukyo snapped her head up to look out the window of Ucchan's just in time to see her best friend and, at the moment, fiancée crash into the ground right in front of her restaurant. "Ranchan!" Ukyo was about to rush out and glomp her in such a manner as to put a certain Amazon bimbo to shame when she remembered the conversation from yesterday and the promise she had made.

Although Ukyo had just said she wouldn't push the engagement, she was pretty sure that Ranma wouldn't be thrilled to be glomped yet again a mere day after said conversation.

'Darn it! This would have been a great opportunity to steal a march in this little war; Akane must have sent her here, via Air-Akane, like she always does when she gets angry, so if it weren't for the promise, then I could push the engagement a little, and make some real progress for once!' Ukyo swore mentally, but, in the end, after berating herself a little more, she walked outside and offered Ranma another free meal of okonomiyaki and a friendly ear.

Ranma looked her with a suspicious glint in her eyes a second before giving her one of the smiles that always made her heart flip, even though she would have preferred it to be when he was in his male form, and said, "Sure Ucchan; that would be great!"

After they went inside Ukyo started cooking an okonomiyaki for her as usual, opened her mouth to speak and suddenly froze. 'What should I talk about? Normally here is where I either flirt with her, insult the other fiancées, or try to bring her around to the engagement.' She thought frantically, as Ranma looked at her quizzically, 'Let's see, this is Ranchan, you really can't go wrong with her favorite subject, the martial arts, but what should I...'

"Ucchan? You there?" Ranma asked curiously, wondering why Ukyo had opened her mouth without saying anything.

Ukyo shook her head and smiled before saying quietly, smirking, "Ranchan, I was thinking about the last time we went on a trip together..." Ukyo saw her start to get nervous and quickly added, "Remember the technique you learned? I was thinking about trying to learn it myself; at the very least the 'soul of ice' would really help me in the kitchen. Do you have any tips for learning it?"

Ranma's eyes sparkled with excitement as their discussion got deeper and deeper into the topic of the art, branching out from the sole topic of that technique as time went on. Pretty soon, even though the food had been made and eaten a long time ago, the two were still going strong, as, for each of them, this was one of, if not the, primary passions of their lives.

As the two martial artists debated methods of training or types of kicks Ukyo realized that she no longer regretted her decision of not trying to take advantage of the situation. She had never seen him this happy or animated talking to her before and the spark in his eyes and grin on his face just made her feel like she was falling in love with him all over again, and she felt herself getting similarly happy and animated as she did so, blushing as came to the simple conclusion that, barring marriage right then and there, she wouldn't miss the moment for anything in the world...

* * *

Shampoo sighed as she sat at the table and looked out at the koi pond while thinking, 'Stupid Violent Pervert Girl, why did she have to go and do that? At least I knew about the plan made by Genma and great-grandmother beforehand, it would have been... bad if I had called my Airen, 'Ranma'.'

She then smirked. 'Akane made quite the spectacle of herself with how she was so embarrassed to say that Airen was good-looking or manly, I know for sure that she didn't really impress Ranma's mother very much with that. Of course, given how she can never say if she wanted to break off the engagement or let someone else marry Airen, it would be a cold day in hell before she would be half as willing as me to show her true feelings for him, if any. It was so embarrassing to watch; I wonder if Mercenary Girl took pictures.' Shampoo giggled at the thought. 'Even though Nodoka didn't see her send Ranma flying across Nerima again, I doubt that she made a very good impression.'

Then she thought of another way to help Mrs. Saotome make the obvious choice, after making sure Akane was nearby she asked, "Mrs. Saotome, its getting fairly close to dinner, would you like to make it with me? Kasumi makes it every day, maybe we could let her take the night off."

Nodoka beamed. "That is a splendid idea Shampoo. What were you thinking of making?"

As Shampoo hoped, Akane couldn't let her get the better of her so easy.

"I can help too, Mrs. Saotome." The youngest Tendo quickly said.

After Nodoka accepted Akane's offer, Shampoo felt a pang of guilt hit her, not at the thought of Akane humiliating herself again, but at the thought of someone actually having to eat what she cooked. 'I know its necessary, but I'm pretty sure that it has to be a crime of some sort allowing her to cook dinner...'

While they prepared the meal, although it may not have been the most mature thing to do, Shampoo took great pleasure in outdoing Akane in everything they were working on, then smirking at her. Akane was just barely able to keep herself under control until dinner when she found out that Shampoo had 'accidentally' mistaken her food for garbage and threw it out as such.

While Ranma didn't say it out loud, Shampoo could see the joy in his eyes when he heard what she had done to protect the innocent that night. Unfortunately, Akane seemed to realize this somehow and stormed off to the kitchen after eating while muttering something about cooking for someone who would actually appreciate the effort and eat it instead of certain ungrateful freeloaders. 'I truly pity the person she is speaking of...'

Shampoo peeked inside the kitchen, hoping that Akane didn't live up to her nickname of 'Kitchen Destroyer', but was surprised, for she had never seen Akane cooking with quite that level of calmness before, which was particularly unusual given how she had just been humiliated...

* * *

It was just after dinner and Ryoga was truly starving; other than some pet food as P-chan in the early afternoon, he hadn't eaten anything in hours and the pantry of his house was completely barren as, because of his constant training and hiking, he didn't have a job. While his parents had jobs, they hadn't stocked up on food in quite a while, and what food that remained was a case of food poisoning just waiting for whoever was foolish enough to eat it.

Ryoga then snarled and shouted, "Curse you Ranma!" While it wasn't Ranma's fault in this case, Ryoga was jealous of him because he got free food all the time while spending meals with Akane.

He suddenly heard a voice from behind him, saying hesitantly, "Ryoga?"

He jumped at the sound, which prompted the speaker to speak again, causing him to smile as he recognized the voice, "Sorry the door was open and I figured I would just walk in."

To Ryoga's great joy, it was Akane who had shown up in his house; she appeared to be rather angry about something but smiled as she looked at him, then said some rather frightening words, "I helped make dinner tonight but that...witch Shampoo threw it all out while calling it garbage. The worst part is that I could tell that everyone was happier after it happened and actually wanted to thank her."

Ryoga was only able to prevent himself from fainting at the thought of Akane coming to his house by focusing on the conversation. 'She is just so pretty, beautiful blue-tinted hair, gorgeous...' He stopped himself, realizing that his getting a nosebleed probably wasn't the best idea for impressing her.

"...so after she did that I was going to storm off to my room, but I remembered that you probably didn't have much to eat and decided to make you something." Alarm bells went off in Ryoga's head as she offered him a small pot, presumably filled with some type of soup.

Ryoga took the pot with mixed feelings; while he was thrilled that Akane had took the trouble to cook him food and bring it over to his house, even though he was starving he couldn't help but recall the hospital visit the last time he had eaten her cooking. Nonetheless he steeled himself as he had a promise to keep. 'I'm doomed...there is so much I had to live for, but it is clearly too late for me...'

He quickly got a spoon from the kitchen and, without looking, took the lid off the pot, grabbed a spoonful and ate it, prepared for death by cooking. Ryoga's eyes then went suddenly wide from the sensations in his mouth. 'Its actually not bad! Nothing like what Kasumi or Ranma's hussies can make, but its still pretty good!' He looked down and it actually looked like how it tasted; miso soup.

Biting her lip anxiously, Akane asked, "What to you think Ryoga?"

He looked at her in shock and replied in a voice that Akane could tell was completely baffled, "Its actually pretty good; I mean, its not incredible, but its not bad, although you might want to use a bit less spices in it. It's a bit...tangy." He said that while eating the soup like his life depended on it, making Akane smile slightly.

"...Really?" Akane said that quite skeptically because of how he has always complimented her food profusely while secretly knowing it was awful.

Ryoga picked up on the skepticism and said, a bit of soup running down his chin before he licked it up, "Here." He gave her a spoonful, which she ate with a beaming smile. "See Akane? It really is pretty good!"

Unfortunately, after a few minutes of small talk Ryoga's ability to prevent himself from fainting was overcome by her grin and he collapsed onto the floor in a nap, feeling that he might die happy now.

Afterward, Akane decided to return home and gloat to Ranma about how some people actually appreciated her food and enjoyed eating it. Unfortunately, 'Ranko' was busy asking her mom for childhood stories about Ranma so she had to abandon the attempt. 'Oh well, at least I know my food can be good.' After bidding everyone good night, she got ready for bed and went to sleep. 'Hm, less spice eh? I'll remember that next time.' That was her last thought before drifting off to sleep with a smile.

**Author's Notes: **While some of you might be surprised that Nodoka would be willing to embarrass and belittle Akane so much, there is a very simple reason: She didn't. It was merely Akane's point of view of the events. As for the food Ryoga eating actually being good, that is because at that time, she trusts him as a person enough that when she cooks for him, she feels that she doesn't have to go all out to impress him, thus using her actual cooking skills which, while not great by any stretch of the imagination, make her food taste like fast food quality rather than three week old roadkill.

rewind gone nuts: I completely agree on both the Shampoo not being bisexual and the not wanting to share him parts, but Nodoka doesn't need to know that, at least as far as the Amazons are concerned. Cologne is basically taking advantage of a wonderful opportunity to get her on their side by implying that it is an option if she supports them but not promising anything; AKA she is telling the truth but not mentioning that it is probably irrelevant.

Just to be clear, as far as the Amazons are concerned, it doesn't matter if Shampoo is willing or not to share Ranma so long as Nodoka THINKS she is willing, at least, they think it won't matter.

You are probably right about how interested or rather not interested Nodoka is in Ranma having a bunch of mistresses, although it might be debatable about whether she COULD be portrayed as interested (I'm having some doubts myself, I must have read too much fanfiction). But even if she isn't that interested, in this time line, she knows about the other fiancées and that her whole family and clan are backed into a corner by the massive honor issues that are aiming right at them because of the stupidity of a certain panda.

I completely agree with you on Nodoka's parenting skills or lack thereof. If I recall correctly, there was an incident after she found out about the curse where she was going to have Ranma commit Seppuku because he was moping after having left the Tendo's place if Genma hadn't stopped her. Sadly, I think that Genma beats her as a parent based on that incident alone hands down, which is truly frightening as Genma is awful as one (By normal standards, not those in anime).

Also, thank you for the reminder on the length of the training trip, I completely forgot it started that early in Ranma's life. As such, I have edited the chapter out.

ranma-saotome-cursed-fighter: Unfortunately, it appear that she is never going to forget about the contract. She will try to make him fulfil it if at any point he fails to act as a 'man among men'.

**Edited 5/9/09**


	8. Of Mothers and Amazons

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 8**

**Of Mothers and Amazons**

_Affection to anger, love to hatred, reversal..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Two Days later Monday February 20, 1994**_

"...Well done Shampoo, you have protected your Airen while turning a probable obstacle to your marriage with Son-in-Law into a possible ally. You have been given a golden opportunity to demonstrate why you are certainly the best choice to be his wife. In addition, you have turned Mrs. Saotome against the Tendo girl without harming our own chances."

As Cologne and Shampoo stood in the currently empty kitchen of the Nekohanten discussing the events of the past couple days, Shampoo couldn't stop herself from beaming at her great-grandmother's compliments as to her cleverness, as well as thoughts of the much anticipated wedding night that Shampoo hoped to have occur soon, assuming that Nodoka was as helpful to their cause as she hoped.

While Shampoo was indulging herself in these thoughts Mousse entered the room and said, with a sneer of dislike and a tone of near-insubordination, "I finished cleaning up your ancient relics, old bat."

After the almost obligatory smack on the head via cane came from Cologne, Mousse left the room in a hurry while Shampoo and Cologne went into the room Mousse had left. Cologne then said, smiling indulgently at her great-granddaughter, "Shampoo, you may have something from my jewelry collection if you like; I wore them when I was a young girl and I would like you to have one."

Shampoo smiled happily and then started picking through the rather sizeable pile of jewelry as Cologne left the room for a moment. Shampoo glanced through the jewelry, trying to find something that might attract Ranma's eye as she thought to herself, 'Hmm, all of these look quite nice but...Ooh! What is in the locked box over there?' Shampoo picked up the little box and, with a light application of some of her strength, broke the lock easily and opened the box.

'Wow!' It was a brooch which could be put on two different ways: the first way made it look like an angry face with a dot on its forehead, the second way made it look like a smiling face with a tiara on the top of it. It was very pretty and Shampoo went to clip it to her shirt collar when a cane blocked her hand.

"Shampoo, don't!"

Shampoo blinked and looked at Cologne who had returned to the room just in time to prevent Shampoo from putting it on.

Sighing in relief, Cologne began to explain her actions, "It's a good thing I remembered to tell you it's time for the lunch rush; that piece is quite dangerous when worn improperly. It is known as the Cursed Reversal Jewel, and it has a powerful enchantment upon it: if worn properly the jewel causes love to flow abundantly in the wearer. However, if it is put on improperly, like you were about to do, it would turn all the love and affection you possess for other people into hatred."

At Shampoo's look of horror from the thought of what that might have caused, Cologne smiled and said in a lighter tone of voice, "Now, stop dawdling, Shampoo, it's time for the lunch rush."

As they returned to the dining area of the now crowded restaurant, Shampoo shivered at her close call; she had been planning to go to the Tendos after the lunch rush and the daily deliveries were complete. 'It would have undone all the hard work I have put into winning the heart of my Airen had I acted like I truly hate everybody that I like. It wouldn't do for Nodoka's impression of me to be ruined like that...'

Then she thought of something which made her smile devilishly, a smile that anyone familiar with Nabiki Tendo would have recognized easily, 'Teehee, I wonder what would happen this jewel happened to 'accidentally' get attached to someone else though!' As she served the crowds at the Nekohanten with her usual ease, a clever little plan came into mind involving the use of her new brooch.

* * *

Ranma was busily chatting with Hiroshi and Daisuke, probably something about girls, which, although Ranma had more than enough trouble with them, the other two would frequently drag him into the conversations anyway. Ukyo would have normally left them alone, trying not to dwell on how Hiroshi and Daisuke would always go on about Akane and Shampoo's beauty while never mentioning her, but she had a bone to pick with her fiancé.

Ukyo then put her hand on Ranma's shoulder and said in an almost-mad tone of voice, the kind of voice that anyone who knew any of the fiancées would recognize in a heartbeat, "Oh Ranchannn! I heard an interesting story from Nabiki; did you hear that a certain Nodoka Saotome, the mother of one Ranma Saotome, is staying at the Tendo Dojo?"

A dark aura surrounded Ukyo as she shoved her fiancé's back against the wall of the school building while talking in a falsely cheery voice, barely noticing as Hiroshi and Daisuke cleared off, "I mean, as my fiancé, it would sure seem to like a good idea to let me know about something like your long lost mother coming to town!"

Ranma gulped at this and looked as if he wished he could phase through the wall behind him, then he seemed to recall something and frowned, saying in a voice that attempted calmness, even if it didn't quite succeed, "I thought you said we wouldn't make the engagement a big deal, Ucchan..."

The rather demonic aura of Ukyo's seemed to vanish utterly as she chuckled nervously, saying with a bit of embarrassment, "Eheh, force of habit; sorry about that."

Then her eyes flashed dangerously at Ranma and he swallowed again as her evil aura made a partial comeback, saying angrily but with a touch of hurt audible, "However, you really should have told me anyway; I mean, in addition to being your fiancée I thought I was your best friend."

Ranma seemed to find something interesting to look at near his feet for several seconds before he responded guiltily, "Sorry Ucchan, you're right, I should have let ya know about it, both as your best friend and f-fiancé." He waited expectantly as if he thought she would say something, if he had been looking at her face he would have seen why she hadn't: because her face was completely red and she was in a bit of a daze.

'He acknowledged me as his fiancée aloud! I mean sure, he did stutter it, but he didn't have to say the word, he could have just said best friend and left it at that! That says a lot considering how he usually acts...' She continued in her emotional high for several seconds before she realized he had been something while she was zoned out.

"...For a few hours Sunday if you like."

Ukyo blinked as he finished. "Um, could you run that by me again please?" Ranma sighed and, after rolling his eyes a little, said, "Let me make it up to you Ucchan, you were working on the prequel to the 'flying dragon heavenly ascension wave', right? Well, how about we see how far you are coming along? If its ok with you we can come back here for a couple of hours Sunday if you like."

Ukyo could do nothing but grin widely as she responded, "Good idea, I did the first part of the training but I have been running into a block on the early part of the 'soul of ice' portion of the training, maybe you could help me with it."

He shrugged. "That sounds fine Ucchan...Now could ya let me down?"

She realized that she had forgotten to stop pressing him into the wall of the building behind him and quickly removed her hand from his chest, letting him down while blushing. "Eheh, Sorry Ranchan, See you there!"

Ranma walked away as, unfortunately, two things happened: a quick and light shower of rain, and Kuno walked out of the school and saw the now female Ranma. While Ukyo giggled as Ranma first protested any form of interest in Kuno, then sent him flying off campus, Akane walked up to her and, with a rather annoyed look on her face, asked, "So Ukyo, did that pervert ask you out on yet another date with him?"

'I wish! But maybe I can trick her into thinking it is one...' It was rather a surprise to her when she found herself responding honestly, but, then again, she always had been bit of a stickler for keeping her promises, "Sadly, no; it's just a bit of martial arts training between friends." 'Although I certainly wish I could say otherwise!'

Akane seemed mollified for a moment then looked at her tiredly and sighed, saying angrily, "I can't believe it, he's gotten you to lie to cover his perversions too. I always thought I could at least trust you of his fiancées, but there's no way he could be alone with a girl and not be perverted with her!"

Ukyo couldn't help but gape at Akane as she walked slowly and tiredly back inside. Ukyo then chuckled as she rushed over to the Ucchan to handle the lunch rush, mentally thanking the school's policy on lunch hour again as she thought to herself, 'Wow, I didn't even have to try and trick her. Her insecurities and lack of trust in him have reached such heights that she actually tricks herself!'

* * *

Akane growled as she opened the door to the Tendo home; Ranma had spent the whole return trip from the school trying to rationalize his date with Ukyo as just an outing between friends, but she knew better. Even if that was all Ranma or Ukyo INTENDED, Ranma's perverted nature would cause it to become, at the very least, a date.

'Why couldn't Ranma have just stopped with an apology when he was talking to Ukyo!? Why did he have to let his pervertedness get the better of him with Ukyo!? Why not with me?' She shook her head, trying to clear it of that particular train of thought as her mind started providing her with certain examples of Ranma 'training' her, definitely NC-17 rated and not in the martial arts, making her blush. 'Curses, he's so perverted he makes me perverted by just being nearby!'

"Aw, Akane, Whadaya want me to do?" Ranma was still whining so she decided to simply ignore him until he left her alone, a strategy that she had worked out to deal with him whenever he had been a jerk and which had been proven to be very effective.

Suddenly, Nabiki rushed over to them from the dining area and hissed to Ranma angrily, "You idiot! Your mother is still here!" As she said this she quickly splashed her with her drink as Nodoka's voice became audible. "Ranko? Akane? Is that you?"

As she said this Nabiki whispered something to Ranma that caused her to growl back, then Mrs. Saotome walked into the room with Shampoo following with a sneer on her face which was aimed straight at Akane before turning it back into a smile when she looked back at Ranma. 'Just great...Apparently I didn't get enough of his little harem today, so Shampoo shows up...'

Nodoka then asked with a smile, "Oh, Akane and Ranko dear! How was school for you two? Nabiki already told me all about her day, why don't the two of you share yours as well?"

Akane, after a quick glare at Shampoo, forced a smile and said, "Well, it was fine for me, but Ranko here got a date this Sunday with a certain 'Ucchan' character."

Akane then shot a look at Shampoo and was happy to see the usually smiling Amazon toss a glare at 'Ranko', who paled immediately, instinctively protesting, "It's not like that! We're just going to work on some martial arts techniques together!" Akane knew that 'Ranko's' protests were futile; in spite of how she acted with Ranma, Shampoo was quite intelligent and would see right through him-her-whatever.

However, Akane was surprised to notice that the Amazon bimbo quickly recovered her smile at 'Ranko's" words. 'Doesn't she understand what is going to happen this weekend with Ukyo!? Stupid naive Amazons!'

Then Nodoka spoke up again smiling, "Well girls, lets go inside for some tea, then we can talk all about what happened during school and this... meeting between Ranko and 'Ucchan'." Nodoka led Ranko and Nabiki hand in hand while Akane and Shampoo walked beside one other.

While en route, Akane for a split something felt like something very light passed by the back of her neck but shrugged it off. 'How DARE he betray me like this!? This time I am aiming for high earth orbit when I get my next chance. I am NOT going to let him make a fool out of me!'

* * *

Ryoga could see the Tendo home from here; he was hoping to challenge Ranma to battle because...well frankly he just wanted to test himself against him again and see if he was finally strong to defeat his pigtailed menace. Of course, he was sure he could find some excuse to fight him, even if Ranma hadn't done anything lately there were still the old standbys; blame Ranma for making his life a living hell or for hurting Akane somehow. Ryoga shrugged; either way, fighting him would be enjoyable.

He was about to enter the dining area of the house, which had a convenient entrance from outside, when he sensed something, a feeling of wrongness and unease in the air. This feeling was heightened by the look of shock on the faces of both the infamous Ice Queen, Nabiki and the normally oblivious Kasumi. He started to ask himself what could have possibly caused this when he noticed the two of them were speaking, so he promptly shut up, listening in.

"...she blew up on you like that Kasumi." Nabiki commented in disbelief, while Ryoga wondered who could possibly blow up at Kasumi, especially when Nabiki was in the same room.

Then Kasumi saw Ryoga, who was standing right outside the house, over by the koi pond and paused for a moment, saying, "Oh my, Ryoga's here, how are you doing today dear?" Although she said it the same sweet way she normally did she sounded a bit overwhelmed.

'What the hell is going on here? Who could possibly have tried to hurt Kasumi!? Was it RANMA!?' Ryoga hesitated and asked worriedly, "Are you alright Kasumi?"

Nabiki seemed to come out of her shocked state for a moment as she smirked at Ryoga and said mischievously, "Do you want to know what happened? It's a really sordid tale..."

Ryoga swallowed and took a seat across from Nabiki, then he said with a unease from the way Nabiki had asked, "...Yes."

Nabiki smoothly replied with a grin, "2,000 yen please then."

Ryoga glared at her for a moment before saying with a tone of annoyance, "Fine, put it on my tab."

Nabiki then said conspiratorially, leaning forward slightly to emphasize her words, "Well Ryoga, we were just sitting down for some tea after school when 'Ranko' made a comment about our dear little sister's cooking as she was offering to bake us something to eat. As I am sure you can surmise, the comment was not a complimentary one; meanwhile, Kasumi here said it would probably be for the best if she handled the cooking. I am sure that you can understand why..."

Remembering how badmouthing in Ryoga's presence was a VERY bad idea, Nabiki quickly continued before that glare could turn truly nasty, "...Akane then hit 'Ranko with her mallet after Mrs. Saotome and Shampoo had gone to visit someone, not too surprising, one has to admit, but then she started yelling at Kasumi about her being an 'emotionless doll' and how she didn't need a 'doll' telling her what to do. She then stormed up to her room all in a huff, not even bothering to apologize."

To say that Ryoga was shocked by what Nabiki had said was like saying the Sun was hot. The idea of Akane saying stuff like that to Kasumi just didn't compute. Kasumi was just someone who it was impossible to get angry at or yell at; he couldn't even imagine that it was possible to yell at her or insult her in anyway, as the very idea of anyone trying to cause her pain in anyway was almost as painful to him as the idea of someone hurting Akane.

While Ryoga was trying to wrestle with the idea of Akane of all people doing something like this, Kasumi spoke, "Maybe you should go talk to her Ryoga dear; you two seem to be such good friends. Perhaps you would be able to find out why she acted like this."

Ryoga nodded at that, then, swallowing hard, he made his way upstairs to Akane's room while trying to think what could have possibly caused something like this to happen, not coming up with anything but a sense of foreboding. As he opened her door he saw that Akane was clearly in a towering rage and he had a sinking feeling as to what was the cause of it, especially when she started shouting, "RYOGA! You Jerk! Just seeing you makes me want to puke! I really wish I had never met you!"

As Ryoga watched Akane screaming, he understood completely why she had blown up at Kasumi and was now doing the same to him. 'Darn it! She knows about P-chan! I should have told her before, but now it's too late... Still, maybe I can salvage the situation. I mean, apparently were good friends... '

Ryoga then swallowed and crouched low to the ground; without any practice, he managed to pull off a perfect 'crouch of the wild tiger' while pleading for mercy, "I am so sorry Akane! I should have told you I was P-chan a long time ago, but I was afraid that you would hate me like you do now! Please don't hate me Akane!"

Akane stopped screaming in what appeared to be shock, then she started talking in slowly growing volume and rage, "Wait a minute, you are P-chan? You are P-chan! YOU! ARE! P-CHAN!"

As the shouting started to reach even higher volumes all that Ryoga could think was, 'Oops!'

* * *

As Ukyo began to prepare her restaurant for the dinner crowd, someone suddenly surprised her by grabbing her on the shoulder; she quickly whirled around and saw Shampoo standing there. Shampoo quickly said, looking around furtively as she did so, "Spatu...Ukyo, I need to warn you; Nodoka Saotome is coming to greet you soon to talk about my Airen! Be careful, she does not know about the Jusenkyo curse and, if she finds out, or thinks he is unmanly, she will kill him because of a stupid contract made between her and Genma!"

As Ukyo's eyes bugged out in shock at the very idea, Shampoo continued, "Now I need to go before she sees me, as she thinks I was too busy to come along; be careful, if you aren't, she could kill Ranma!' She then rushed out of Ucchan's at high speeds before grabbing her bike and pedaling like her life depended on it.

Ukyo then saw a red-headed, kimono clad woman walk inside and over to her, before saying with a tone of sweetness and kindness, "Hello, you must be this 'Ukyo' that I have heard so much about, one of my son's apparently large number of fiancées. It is nice to meet you. I am Nodoka Saotome, the mother of Ranma Saotome."

Ukyo forced a smile, then said, "Uh...yeah, that is me. It's nice to meet you too..."

Nodoka beamed, then began to talk to her, at first about what Ukyo thought of Ranchan, then about stories of his doings in Nerima as well as some stories from when she and Ranma were kids, while Ukyo did her very best to impress the woman, both as to Ranma's manliness and Ukyo's suitability for him. After all, this WAS her first time meeting her hopefully future Mother-in-Law...

Ukyo, to her surprise, enjoyed the conversation very much and she could tell that she had left a good impression upon Ranma's mother. Nonetheless, she was glad when Nodoka let her go to work on the dinner rush, as she was afraid that, for every minute that passed, her chances of letting something slip and getting Ranchan killed were increasing.

'Geez Ranma' Ukyo thought with a snort, 'You can't even get a mother that is normal, can you?' She then sighed, before putting on her business-smile and getting back to work...

**Author's Notes: **In this time-line, Shampoo received the gift of the cursed reversal jewel ahead of time and, because Cologne had to come back in order to let her know about the lunch rush, was able to stop her from using the jewel on herself. In case you are wondering, I expanded the cursed reversal jewel's effects to include feelings of affection as well as those of love on the reversal list.

Needless to say, that is the reason for the rather extreme reactions to both Kasumi and Ryoga on Akane's part as well as Ranma as, even if she doesn't love them romantically at the moment, she cares for them. If you are wondering why she didn't pour hot water on Ranma or something its because, as much as she hates him with the brooch on, she doesn't want him dead by any means. She just isn't that malicious.

As should be obvious, I am definitely portraying Akane has having significant feelings for Ranma by this point in the story. Thus, her hatred of him with it on.

On an off topic, Does anyone know if the Manga shows what time of the year it is in and around books 20-22? I was planning on adding dates and I would hate to get the time of the year wrong. Also, does anyone have any ideas for outfits for Ukyo that would be embarrassing for her to wear and yet not too risque for a restaurant owner to wear in the shop?

(Remember, she is used to wearing guy's clothing, so I doubt it would take THAT much to embarrass her unbelievably). I would come up with some myself, but in all honesty, girl's clothing confuses me and I wouldn't be able to describe a good outfit for her for the life of me. I need it for part of her upcoming training in the 'soul of ice'. If you have any ideas, please include them in the reviews.

_**REVIEWS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! THE MORE THE BETTER!**_

sire-alien: I feel that since Nodoka has shown herself willing to kill her own son if he fails to fulfil a contract he unknowingly made when he was two, that outweighs everything that Genma has done up to this point, even the Cat-fist training, as at least he doesn't try to kill him; not that he will EVER make father of the year. And yes, I do know that he is probably mainly trying to protect Ranma to save his own skin, but that wasn't what I was refering to. Also, thank you very much for the compliment.

Frog Lady: Thank you for the compliment, I like your story as well. In fact, the more chapters, the better=).

rewind gone nuts: I haven't really written fanfiction of any kind before this one, is it really that bad that thought/speech aren't in their own seperate paragraphs? I ask because I am rather fond of nice medium size paragraphs rather than one line thoughts or phrases and would rather avoid using that style if possible. Just personal preference.

Thank you, I wanted this to be a story where all of the major fiancées got a real shot at Ranma (I am not counting Kodachi because I agree wholeheartedly with your opinion of her in your profile and this is most assuredly the manga version of her. Thus, no dice for Kodachi). As such, Shampoo will definitely get her chance to win his heart and might even succeed, although I won't make any promises=).

Personally, I plan on portraying it as Shampoo's viewing the whole fiancée situations in a more... militaristic way than her competitors. As such, she would be far more likely to employ magic to win over her rivals, either by winning her Airen's heart directly (Love-pill bracelet), or by removing the competition (Not really lethally;more like the herbal shampoo used on Akane in her first appearence). She tries to gain victories and positional advantage in this war in order to win him. Her methods are far closer to ruthless than her competition (Again, not counting Kodachi) as she views the battle far differently from them.

Thank you again, I am trying to keep the characters as in character as possible at this time, although they will likely change a bit from canon as time passes. Mainly because none of the fiancées or Ryoga are in total desperation mode like they probably felt they were during the latter part of the manga.

Its cool, the reason I responded is partially because I try to reply to every part of every review. After all, people's reviews are important to me (They are a major part of the most important meal of the day!). Sorry, but I missed the oblique reference to the event mentioned, eheh.

**Edited 5/11/09**


	9. Guilt, Punishment, and Overreaction

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 9**

**Guilt, Punishment, and Overreaction**

_To be right, one must be ready to admit one is wrong..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Two Days Later Wednesday February 22, 1994**_

It had been two days since the incident at the Tendos, and Shampoo still had a dazzling smile when she thought of what happened there and its consequences for Akane's fiancéeship. Shampoo had removed the brooch right after she saw Ryoga flee from Akane even faster than she had ever seen him, or even Airen, run before, so she had at first thought that Akane had managed to hide what had happened from Nodoka.

However, despite Akane apologizing profusely to Kasumi and Nabiki upon the removal of the brooch, there was no way to conceal the event from Nodoka. While Nodoka had forgiven Akane, it was obvious she was easily Nodoka's last choice for Ranma's fiancée -behind Ukyo and Shampoo- because of it.

Unfortunately, Nodoka still had yet to meet her son in male form, as yesterday Ranma had spent the whole day being kept away from her by his father on account of the contract and the fact that Nodoka was clearly pro-Shampoo, which was to the detriment of Genma's plans of Ranma marrying Akane. While Ranma was still tied up by his father, Nodoka had left last night for her home again.

There was but one fly in the ointment of Shampoo's happiness; the realization that when Akane sent Ranma into LEO via her mallet, neither of her sisters were capable of telling the difference between her behavior towards Ranma under the reversal jewel's power and her normal behavior towards him. It was quite disturbing to both her and her great-grandmother, who was musing aloud about it in the kitchen of the Nekohanten,

"From what I can tell, there are two possibilities, Shampoo, both of which are very disturbing. Either in her true heart of hearts Miss Tendo truly loathes Son-In-Law and the brooch had no effect, or that is her normal way of treating Ranma, whom she loves."

Meanwhile, Cologne thought to herself, 'Regardless of the reason, it is a bad sign for the future health of Son-in-Law. If Miss Tendo's acting like that is so normal that no one even takes note of it, then the situation there might be worse than I thought. I suspect that removing him from the area, by force if necessary, might be the only option to protect him...'

While she washed some dishes, Shampoo's thoughts were proceeding along similar lines to her Great-Grandmothers, 'Great-Grandmother is right; this is a very bad sign. Although I am sorry about what happened to Ryoga, and especially Kasumi...' She made a mental note to do something for them in order to make it up to them. 'I cannot afford to have any guilt or regrets about what I have to do. I must protect Airen and remove him from the lair of REALLY Violent Pervert Girl as soon as possible, by any means necessary. He is in danger every day he remains in the same house as someone who acts as if they truly hated him and I WILL NOT LET HER HURT HIM!'

Cologne smirked as Shampoo's battle aura exploded with her determination to protect Ranma, as it demonstrated an opportunity to help Shampoo grow both as a warrior and as a person.

'This may be a blessing in the disguise of a problem, as it will finally give Shampoo the motivation to train like she should have been some time ago. Although I have no doubt that he enjoys rescuing people, like Miss Tendo for example, by playing the role of their manly savior, I doubt that he would be able to stay romantically interested in someone for long if he doesn't respect them. I wish that she had kept up with her training after she had entered Nerima, but at least she is finally motivated to train like she should have been doing...'

She then frowned for a moment, 'However, even if Son-in-Law doesn't mistakenly resist us when we try to rescue him, she will likely need to fight against both Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome, as well as possibly Akane Tendo. Unfortunately, I will be unable to assist her as my interference might provoke Happi's.' She shuddered briefly as she thought of the consequences of an-all out battle between herself and Happosai. 'It will be very challenging for her, and it will be some time before she is ready for what it will truly entail.'

Cologne then looked over at Shampoo one last time, and smiled slightly, thinking to herself, 'Nevertheless, I have faith in my Great-Granddaughter; she will be ready soon, and once she is, she will crush any in the way of her protecting Ranma.' She cackled a little and looked out the window in the direction of the Tendo dojo, before whispering aloud,

"Not now, but very soon."

* * *

Those who knew Ryoga were well aware of the fact that him and depression went together like peanut butter and jelly, however he had reached never-before seen depths of depression on account of the events of two days ago. In the long run, it was probably better that Akane had found out about his being P-chan now, rather than a year or so down the road, but that didn't mitigate the hurt he was feeling on account of Akane's anger.

'I knew she would eventually find out, but did I have to let her know in such an awful way?! I mean, it would have almost been better if I had just poured cold water on myself by accident right in front of her!' Given how Ryoga was feeling, it was obvious nearby who knew him that if he tried to use his 'perfect lion's roar blast' he would probably wipe out everything in a several hundred-foot radius with ease.

As such, Ukyo decided to intervene before such an event could occur, saying kindly, "Want another one Sugar?"

While Ryoga hadn't told Ukyo exactly what happened between him and Akane, she could tell that, whatever it was, it had been truly awful. As such, Ukyo had been trying to help him cope with it via a large number of okonomiyaki on the house for the past couple days. Unfortunately, he seemed to barely notice this, preferring to wallow in self-pity much of the time.

Meanwhile, Ryoga was thinking to himself again, 'How can I get Akane to forgive me? I tried multiple apologies, gifts, even offering to let her hit me, and she still won't forgive me.' He had spent the past two days trying to apologize to her in private with absolutely no success. Akane had just yelled at him about how she had thought she could trust him and he had betrayed her trust and now their friendship was over.

'What could I possibly do to make it so she is willing to trust me again? I know I probably deserve this, but it really hurts. I never wanted to let this become such a big...thing, but it was so hard trying to work up the nerve to tell her...'

Meanwhile, Ukyo wanted to help him regain his friendship with Akane at the very least; while he could be a world-class bumbler he still had the best chance of any man she knew who wasn't Ranma of getting into Akane's heart. If he did, then it would only leave Shampoo as a serious rival to her; with Akane "off the market", as it were, the Tendo engagement would be effectively dead. Ranma and Nabiki did not get along well and Kasumi seemed to be interested in Dr. Tofu or, at least, not Ranma.

It would also be a huge load off her back as, while Shampoo and Ranma seemed to get along quite well and Shampoo was admittedly very attractive, Ukyo would feel much more confidant dealing with her than the goddess-level beauty, Akane. Plus, other than his rivalry with Ranma, Ryoga was basically a good person and he really seemed to like Akane. Ukyo then snorted, thinking to herself, 'Heaven knows why.' She then looked at Ryoga and, in her best 'you can do it' voice, said.

"OK Ryoga, get off your butt and try again; if you can still be trying to beat Ranma after all the times you got creamed by him, you can get a girl like Akane to forgive you. Think of how many times Ranchan has managed to get on her bad side before and he eventually got her to forgive him. YOU CAN DO THIS!"

She let her battle aura out a bit as she finished it in an effort to encourage him; the little speech seemed to work pretty well as he shot up with determination in his eyes and shouted to the sky, or at least to her ceiling, "You are right! Even though what I have done was terrible, Ranma has done many things to make him deserve this hell ten times more than me! I will keep trying to get her forgiveness and defeat Ranma in her name for all of the wrongs he has done to her!"

He then charged out of the Ucchan as Ukyo blinked in surprise at his incredible ability to miss the point when the sentence involved Ranma or Akane. 'On second thought, maybe I can see why he likes her so much; they really do have a lot in common when it comes to dealing with Ranma...'

Ukyo then sighed as another thought occurred to her. 'I did promise Ranchan I wouldn't try any funny business or push the engagement, but I don't think this really counts as it's not trying to get him so much as allowing one of my rivals a chance for happiness. After all, I did get a promise out of Ranma too; there will be plenty of time for me to win him over if he has to keep THAT promise. He is pretty indecisive after all, so he might take months, or even years to find the one he truly wants to spend the rest of his life with.'

She then wondered what Ryoga would do this time. 'It's up to him I suppose, I don't know much about Akane other than what Ranchan tells me. Of course if it were me, I would just make her an okonomiyaki, it works wonders for me or Ranchan when one of us are feeling down...' Her normal thought cut off then as, with a bit of drool running down her chin, she remembered the daydream she had had of her and Ranma with okonomiyaki sauce in class Friday. It was quite the interesting event for her customers when she seemed to forget the difference between thinking and thinking aloud.

"Mmm, Ranchaaann, the sauce goes on the okonomiyaki, not therrre..."

* * *

"Stupid perverted jerk!"

While the words were a very common thing to hear if you were in Akane's vicinity for more than half an hour, the person they signified would have been quite a surprise to anyone who knew her. Akane was laying on her bed yet again; except for when she had to drag herself to school, she had been doing this almost the whole time for the past two days ever since she had found out that Ryoga had been lying to her all along about his 'condition'.

She had really begun to trust him after he had made that promise to her, so it had really hurt to find out that he had secretly been P-chan the entire time, and probably did a whole host of perverted things without her knowledge, just like Ranma and all the other boys she knew. He had had a host of opportunities after all...

Akane's mind then helpfully supplied her with possible instances of when he might have, taking advantage of his piglet alter ego, watched her changing, although she was pretty sure that he had generally looked away whenever she had seen him. 'Still...' Akane then gritted her teeth, thinking to herself, 'I thought he was my friend! I thought I could trust him, but I'll bet that he was really just another perverted jerk like RANMA or KUNO!'

As if called by her ill thoughts of him, Ranma suddenly walked into her room in order to both try and explain how his 'date' wasn't really going to be a date and to beg her not to tell their fathers about it, much like the past twenty times she had seen him.

'Ugh, yet another lying pervert! If he was REALLY telling the truth about it not being a date it wouldn't matter if our fathers knew about it! I wish he would just admit the truth about his little 'outing' with Ukyo and be done with it. Or better yet, take me instead!' She quashed that last thought and its accompanying picture of him working on his 'pins' and 'holds' with her as it was clearly as her inner pervert talking; after all, there was no way she really wanted him as her fiancé at all, right?

"Listen Akane, I just wanted to say once again that I am sorry..."

Ryoga had walked in, obviously trying to apologize for not telling her the whole 'Oh by the way, I am P-chan whenever I get hit with cold water, hyuk, hyuk, hyuk!' thing yet again when he noticed that Ranma was in the room. Luckily, he managed to stop himself before blurting anything out in front of Ranma, who now appeared to be simply puzzled rather than suspicious, asking in confusion,

"Uh, Akane? Ryoga? What's goin' on here?"

Akane then got a wonderful idea that would show Ranma just how she felt when he went on his little date with his tramp Ukyo; although she would have to use Ryoga to bring it off, which would have normally made her feel guilty about it, Akane figured that, after she explained, he would understand completely. Plus, given how he had lied to her, he owed this to her.

Akane then said with a smile of utter innocence, "Oh Ranma, my good friend Ryoga here was apologizing about how he had inappropriately asked me to go on a training trip with him this weekend, much like your own with Ukyo. At the time, I had told him that I wasn't going to do because you are my fiancé, but if it's ok for you and Ukyo to go train together, I suppose that I will have to tell him that I was mistaken and I am now willing to go with him. You don't mind, do you?"

"Uh, no, I guess not." Ranma said this slowly and very confusedly while looking between the two of them, a confused look that was mirrored by Ryoga.

Akane then said pleasantly, "Well, good. Now could you go so Ryoga and I could talk about our trip this weekend? Have fun with Ukyo!" As she said this she pushed Ranma out of the door of her room.

She smirked slightly as she heard Ranma stomping down the stairs, then she rounded on Ryoga. Akane then spent the next twenty minutes describing to Ryoga, with great care, her plan to make Ranma understand how she was feeling about his little training trip with Ukyo: pained, as, in spite of her beauty, she had to watch as Ranma preferred to spend time with his so-called 'Cute Fiancée'.

In order to guarantee Ryoga's support, she made it clear that, if he ever wanted to forgive her, he would have to do this for her, although she figured he wouldn't mind it much if he was the friend he claimed to be to her, as he had always seemed to enjoy helping her...

As such, Akane was rather surprised that, rather than the look of happiness at the idea of tormenting Ranma she expected, or even a look of acceptance, he looked like she was asking him to swallow molten lava by asking this of him. 'Oh well, tough beans for him, he owes me this and he knows it. It's been nearly half a year since we met and he just now tells me about his little curse of being P-chan!?'

In the end, Ryoga had agreed, but while he had accepted her offer, Akane was surprised at the look of sheer horror on his face as he shuffled out of the room and left the Tendo residence.

* * *

Genma Saotome smiled; he had heard Ranma and Akane talking about some training that she was going to do with Ryoga that weekend. While he normally would have been angry, he remembered enough of when he had been courting Nodoka to realize by Akane's unusual tone and how she was talking that she was clearly trying to make Ranma jealous.

He thought to himself, 'This is a great chance to get those male competitive juices flowing! At this rate, we should be able to have the wedding soon enough!' Unfortunately for Genma, he was so happy once his mind got on the topic of the wedding that would inevitably follow soon after that he completely forgot that Akane had said something about Ranma and Ukyo doing something together as well.

As Ranma came downstairs, Genma walked over to him, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked him, "So, my son, are you not going to stop that boy from dating your fiancée? Are you going to let him steal her from you with this 'date' of his!? No, you will not! Make me proud for once and put a stop to this! You must do this for the two schools to be joined!"

As he spoke, Genma smirked mentally, thinking to himself, 'Just a little more pressure, and Boom! Here comes the wedding!'

Ranma however, was clearly annoyed at him and replied. "Don't worry old man, they aren't really doin' anything, its obvious..."

Genma was surprised at his son's sudden insight into the female psyche and asked him in shock, "How did you realize she was trying to make you jealous? It took me ages to learn when your mother was trying to do that! Very well done, Ranma! You are clearly ready to carry on the Saotome family legacy..."

He realized his error when Ranma whirled around with a red-hot ki aura and practically snarled, "WHAT!?" Ranma then stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him in anger.

Genma then froze, realizing his mistake and muttered to himself, "Oops! I REALLY hope this doesn't blow up in my face this time. Hmm, better not tell Tendo..."

**Author's Note: **Not much to say, Shampoo will definitely be more aggressive about getting Ranma or, at the least, getting him away from Akane in the future as its become quite the worrisome situation in her eyes. After all, Akane may not be that great of a martial artist at this time, but if she gets lucky with a mallet once... Let's just say her determination to protect her Airen because of this WILL have its own effects in incoming chapters.

rewind gone nuts: As rewind gone nuts knows already, I was thrilled to accept him as my Beta reader for this fic and we have redone the first 8 chapters after a quick check over.

I am glad that she is in character, although once again, I am unable to disclose the final pairings at this time.

No comment on the event mentioned in the manga.

**Edited 5/13/09**


	10. Training Jealousy

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 10**

**Training Jealousy**

_I want you to want me..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Two Days Later Friday February 24, 1994**_

Ryoga wanted to scream; it was almost as if he was living in a dream wherein it appeared he had finally what he had gotten what he wanted above all else, but it had been perverted until was nothing but an illusion designed to deceive _HIM_. As such, it was really a nightmare made reality in Ryoga's mind.

Akane had decided to take him on a two-day training trip, she was hanging off him constantly, she beatifically smiled at Ryoga constantly...and it was all just an act to make Ranma JEALOUS. Akane had said it was just to make Ranma understand how she felt about his little training trip with Ukyo, but, even with his near-blind faith in everything she said, Ryoga could tell that the real reason was just to get Ranma jealous of his relationship with Akane.

He was really starting to regret that he had never told Akane how he felt; after all, Ryoga knew that if she knew about how he felt for her, then no matter how angry she was at him right now Akane wouldn't just use him to make Ranma jealous. There was no way a girl like her could ever be THAT heartless...

It was too late to tell her now though; Ryoga could tell that Akane had feelings for RANMA and he knew she would reject him. After all, Ryoga had been lying to her all of the time about P-chan; how could she ever choose someone who couldn't even tell her the truth about something as important as that.

'This is all Ranma's fault! If he didn't...!' Ryoga stopped that train of thought suddenly; as much as he wished he could, there was no way he could blame Ranma for this, as it was truly his own fault that he had let it go on that long.

Ryoga knew that if he had told her as soon as it happened, or even a couple months afterward, he might have some room to blame someone else, but he hadn't told her then, and even now he had only let her know when he thought she had already figured it out. 'Even Ranma tried to help me tell her, in his own way. Ugh, I am the scum of the earth! Maybe I should give her up to find someone else. Hell, even Ranma would be better than me, in spite of his perverted ways...'

Ryoga then spoke aloud, frowning as he did so, "Well, even if I gave up on winning her heart, I still have loads to make up for, so I'll decide on whether or not to do that later. For now though, I can start out on fixing what I broke by doing exactly what she asked to the best of my abilities: train her as hard as I would train myself, even though she might dislike it, and make Ranma jealous as best as I can...not that it seems to be doing any good..."

Ryoga then let a small smirk develop as he thought to himself, 'Hmm, if Ranma isn't getting jealous, then maybe my chances are better than I thought... Maybe he really isn't interested in Akane after all!'

_**

* * *

**_

One Day Later Saturday February 25, 1994

Ukyo was in a state of near ecstasy and had been ever since Wednesday when Ranma had come to Ucchan's for an Okonomiyaki, clearly angry about something and needing to talk about it.

_Flashback Wednesday February 22, 1994:  
Ranma was sitting at the counter of Ucchan's again while Ukyo prepared okonomiyaki for him and the rest of her customers; he seemed to be sulking as he picked at his food slowly, dividing it into little pieces before eating each piece one at a time. It was a very unusual thing for anyone who knew Ranma well at all to see, as he typically guzzled down his food like a man dying of thirst did water. _

_Having known him for so long, Ukyo picked up on it quickly, but she decided to wait and see if he would say something first before pressing him. However, after several minutes she had grown tired of waiting and just decided to simply ask him, but right as she was about to do so, he opened his mouth and spoke, starting to rant moodily, _

_"Stupid Akane! I can't believe her! I spent three whole days trying to explain to her that what we are doing Sunday together is just training, but she still doesn't GET IT!_ _Now she is dragging Pigboy into it! Akane is using Ryoga of all people to make me 'jealous'!"_

_Ranma made that word sound like a filthy curse word as he slammed his hand down in front of him. Ukyo then glanced where his hand had landed and quietly said, "I've been cooking there, isn't it hot, Ranchan?"_

_He nodded and withdrew his hand from the red-hot metal. She looked at his hand before continuing softly, "Would you like some cold water for your hand?"_

_Once again, Ranma nodded while holding his badly burnt hand away from the rest of his body. Ukyo winced as she saw it and asked him quietly, "That hurt a lot, didn't it?"_

_He could only whisper a pained-sounding "Yes..." in response to that..._

_End Flashback:_

* * *

"Grr..." Akane was rather annoyed, something easily noticeable by how she was tapping the table she was sitting at hard enough to leave a mark each time she touched it; Ryoga had agreed to meet her at her house in order to help her make Ranma jeal....err show him how she felt about his little date, but Ranma wasn't even batting a eye, actually smirking whenever she brought up the training trip.

As such, she decided to try a different tactic, saying almost-calmly, "You know Ranma, although Ryoga is an excellent fighter, I think that if you had asked me, I probably would have gone with you. I mean, you are my fiancé after all, we should be doing stuff like...training together, right?"

Ranma looked over at her and, for no reason that she cared to think of, Akane decided to stretch her arms over her head while arching her back a little, an act which just so happened to help emphasize her bust. It did seem to be having an effect on Ranma, but in the end he chuckled a little and responded, "Well, as long as you are serious about it, I don't think I would mind doing it with you sometime. Maybe after school Monday or something?"

Akane smiled to herself; finally she had gotten it through his thick head about how she felt about his date with Ukyo, although he was being his normal perverted self- offering to go out on dates with two of his fiancées. It surprised her that she was actually considering it, before she decided for certain, whereupon she responded red-facedly. "Well, where were you considering taking me?"

He seemed to think for a moment, then replied calmly, although she could she thought she could see a teasing light in his eyes, "Well, I was thinking that the dojo is closest."

All Akane could do for a moment was stare at him before shouting, incensed at how he was planning to go out on a date so close to home, "WHAT?! You want our fathers to see us!? Are you INSANE!?"

Ranma looked at her like she had grown two heads then replied in an "it's obvious" tone, "Well, it wouldn't be so bad, they always pressure us to train together; plus, as much as I dislike his methods, my dad is a really good instructor and you could really use some work on your self-control, speed, and technique. I mean, strength and endurance training aren't bad...but you really should be working on the other things too."

Akane could only splutter for a moment at Ranma's sheer thick-headedness; the idiot STILL didn't get it. He thought she was talking about actual training when it was obvious that she was talking about him going on a date with Ukyo and possibly, maybe, herself. Furious, Akane then got up and screamed at him, "RANMA YOU IDIOT!"

-POW-

Akane sent him out the dining area sailing through the wind for his stupidity, smirking due to the fact her arc was, once again, excellent. Right then, Ryoga arrived and appeared to blanch at her fury, before saying nervously, "Um, are you ready to go Akane?

She looked at him and sighed before replying, shrugging as she did so, "Sure Ryoga, whatever."

* * *

As she continued serving food, Ukyo couldn't help but smirk when she recalled what happened Wednesday after Ranma had poured cold water on his hand.

_Flashback Three days ago Wednesday:_

_As they ran Ranma's hands under cold water in order to deal with the burns, the now female Ranma made it clear that she wanted to make Akane suffer for how pigheaded she was being, especially because, even though they fought all the time, Ranma saw Ryoga as a friend and it would be cruel for him to be used to make Ranma jealous like that given his massive crush on Akane. In addition to that, there was Ranma's general dislike of being manipulated in any way. _

_Ranma, of course, would probably forget all about it after she had gotten some silly form of revenge on Akane normally, but this time Ukyo was there; she knew it was a golden chance to make something happen, the question was what to do with it..._

_Normally she would probably try something like asking Ranma to turn it into a date and maybe get Akane jealous, which would have the added bonus of getting her some alone time with Ranchan, but Akane's mind was already doing that for her, and there was the matter of the promise anyway. Ukyo considered it anyway but decided against it. 'I know the promise probably doesn't cover this, but I'll bet that Ranma-honey would still really appreciate it if I didn't try to make it more than what we agreed to.' _

_Suddenly an idea hit her, and she smiled wickedly before almost purring out, "Ranchannn..."_

_Ranma seemed to smile at the evil little grin on Ukyo's face as she paused before continuing, "...I have an idea that will make her regret the day she ever considered trying to manipulate your affections..."_

_As Ranma looked at her with a great deal of eagerness visible on her face, Ukyo couldn't help but feel a pang of regret that she never saw it when she was flirting with her Ranchan, but continued anyway, deciding to work on that problem later, "Her plan is to make you jealous by treating her training with Ryoga as a date, right? Well, imagine just how pathetic she will feel when you don't seem to care one bit… she'll probably want to scream at you in frustration when you keep treat her flirting and her 'date' with Ryoga as the meaningless fiction it truly is..."_

_Ranma thought it over, and then his expression mirrored the evil look on Ukyo's face. He smirked and nodded to Ukyo before saying enthusiastically "Perfect! Akane won't know what hit her..."_

_Ukyo chuckled, then said teasingly, "Now then, would you like another okonomiyaki? I mean, you haven't even eaten half as much as you usually do, Ranma..."_

_Ranma quickly accepted, and the conversation moved to other topics, but Ranma's enthusiasm remained..._

_End Flashback:_

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh at her recollection of Akane's antics the past few days. From what she had seen, Akane flirted with Ryoga whenever she got the chance if Ranma was nearby and, even if Ryoga wasn't there, she would find some way to drag the boy into any conversation if Ranma was nearby.

Whenever she got the chance, Akane was all over Ryoga like a cheap suit. Of course, what made the situation truly hilarious was the oblivious act that Ranma was putting on the whole time; he didn't seem to notice even when Akane was treating Ryoga much like Shampoo treated Ranma.

The young okonomiyaki chef was smiling happily, lost in thought when she suddenly heard a familiar voice say, "Hey, Earth to Ucchan, the aliens ate all your okonomiyaki sauce."

Only hearing 'Ate all your okonomiyaki sauce', Ukyo roared furiously, "WHAT!? HOW DARE THEY!?"

She then spun around and saw Ranma grinning at her, simultaneously realizing that he had been teasing her. He then laughed at her embarrassed expression, before saying, "I knew that would get you up again, Ucchan!"

Ukyo pouted a little and gave him a light shove before smirking at him, saying with a chuckle, "Sorry Ranchan, I was just remembering the last few days."

He laughed and said, "Remember the time when she was talking to you about training techniques and Ryoga and I sat down nearby, and she changed seats so she could be next to the pig and hang off him...from across the table?"

Ukyo laughed hard at the memory and barely avoided pouring some batter from her latest okonomiyaki onto him. For the next half hour, they exchanged tales of Akane's antics, as well as some of the sillier stories that Ukyo had of her customers at the Ucchan. Even though at the end of it Ukyo had to close down as her laughter was starting to scare off the customers, she wouldn't have missed that time with Ranma for the world, as he was even more addicting to be around when he was enjoying himself than he was normally.

* * *

Akane and Ryoga finally arrived at the training grounds they had selected mid-afternoon; it was the same place wherein Ryoga had first trained the 'breaking point' with Cologne. Since no one was around, Akane had dropped the act she had been doing the past three days, to Ryoga's apparent relief; apparently he didn't like it very much when she flirted with him like that, something that hurt a bit as most boys would have been thrilled to have her flirt with them.

Shrugging it off, Akane glared at him when he raised his eyebrow at her. He looked back at her with eyes that were both hurt and weary, but she didn't really care, or at least tried not to care, mentally reminding herself, 'He deserves it! It's gonna take a LOT for him to make me want to forgive him after what he did!'

Ryoga then said seriously, but unable to keep a small bit of anxiousness from poking through, "Well Akane, let's get started."

Akane narrowed her eyes at him and frowned, not responding. He looked back at her nervously for a moment, then swallowed and said, "We'll start with some simple sparring ok? Now, attack me!"

Akane, being generally agreeable in a situation like that, ran straight at him and unleashed a barrage of fast punches at his midsection. Without much speed, but a great deal of finesse and grace, he easily blocked or dodged every one of them before suddenly ducking to the ground and performing a leg sweep that sent her crashing to the ground. She got back up and goggled at him in surprise; he had never really hit her like that when he trained with before.

Akane was still dealing with her surprise when Ryoga calmly said, knowing that this was part of his debt and trying to do his best to repay it, "Again."

She obliged him, to much the same result, except it was a jump kick that sent her crashing into a tree, rather than a leg sweep, that took her out of the fight. This pattern, where she would try to hit him with a blazing fast series of basic attacks which he would block or dodge gracefully before either jumping or ducking and hitting her with a devastating counter, continued for a full half hour.

Pretty soon, Akane was starting to get rather frustrating at how badly he was beating her, although she was secretly glad he was taking her more seriously than Ranma usually did. Still, it was embarrassing for her and she was happy when he finally said, "Ok, stop! Stop!"

Akane blinked and stopped right as she was about to unleash the same blisteringly fast attack that Ryoga suspected was the type she had always used to face her challengers. Ryoga started pacing a little while he started talking, trying to be both supportive and stern,

"Well, on the bright side, your strength and speed have improved since the last time we did this and aren't too bad, the problem is that you are far too direct in your attacks, it makes them much easier to deal with them than they should be considering the speed. Also, you seem to only really fight in two dimensions, which means that if your opponent tries to attack from above or below via a jump or a duck, they can completely bypass all of your defenses, just like what I was doing."

Akane did NOT like what he had said about her fighting skills, but she remembered how he had helped her quite a bit in previous training with her and, even though she was REALLY angry at him, decided to let him get away with it for now...more or less.

"Well, what would you suggest, 'P-chan'?"

Ryoga looked hurt by what she had said, but seemed to accept that it was her right, as after a few seconds he responded heavily, "First, lets see if we can get you to master a basic kata, if you do it should really help you with your attack and defense as your moves will be much smoother, Now then, let's start! Copy what I do!"

He then started his kata, which Akane copied, after a few moments she realized that it was a kata she had mastered when she was six and stopped before saying to Ryoga in annoyance, "I know this one already, Ryoga! I mastered it YEARS ago!"

However, he glanced at her without slowing down at all, then said coolly, "Do it anyway, and stand in front of me while doing it."

She sighed and started the kata again, they moved in synchronization for ten full minutes, just repeating the kata, before she noticed something. 'Hey, now that I'm paying closer attention, his kata looks a LOT more fluid than mine, he is moving from move to move without a single gap in it at all. But why is his so much better?'

She watched him carefully while continuing her own kata, then concluded, 'Ah, I see; for him it is one continuous movement, like a dance. He can do a whole string of these movements without thinking and at the drop of a hat.' She started trying to copy his fluidity and could see him smile slightly as he did so. 'Huh, his smile looks much nicer when it's not one of his feral death grins.' They continued doing the same kata routine over and over again the rest of the afternoon...

* * *

Shampoo panted in exhaustion; after nearly a full day of training she was covered in sweat, bruises, and grime, especially bruises. She cursed in both Japanese and Chinese as she pulled the rope that would send herself and a boulder crashing into each other at high speeds. 'I know this is necessary for the training, but did they really need to make the 'shatter pulse' training so painful?'

Shaking her head, she then said aloud, "Ok Shampoo, focus on the vibrations in the rock, you can do this, especially if you don't talk to yourself!"

-WHAM- -WHAM- -WHAM- -WHAM-

As Shampoo continued her painful efforts to feel and predict the reverberations in the rock, she reflected on an event that occurred earlier in the week.

_Flashback Yesterday Friday:_

_It was lunch for the students at Furinken high school and Shampoo had been planning on a quick glomp of her Airen, then making...a pointed comparison between the lunch that she made and the bio-weapon that Violent Pervert Girl had made for Ranma's 'lunch'._

_However, when she was about to jump from behind the tree that she had been hiding behind in order to surprise her Airen, she heard that Kitchen Destroyer was busy talking about something that, frankly, rather surprised Shampoo, a weekend-long training trip with Pigboy. As Shampoo continued hiding confused about what that might mean, Akane continued talking, acting like this training trip was really a date with Ryoga. _

_This confused Shampoo greatly as, in spite of the apparent date she was planning, she looked jealous when Ranma mentioned a training session he planned for with Ukyo. Additionally, the strange jealousy that Airen sometimes displayed whenever someone else tried to date Akane was nowhere to be found, although he seemed to be having problems keeping a straight face at times, biting his lip in a way that Shampoo found oh so cute._

_After forcing Ranma to...ingest, for lack of a better word, the 'food' she had made for him, clearly straining himself more than he did in most of his battles as he did so, Akane and Ranma went back inside the school. Akane went back to class, and Ranma went to the nurse's office, obviously on account of what he had just attempted to eat, a fact which Akane clearly didn't care for very much._

_Shampoo couldn't help but wonder if there was some form of strange magic that was causing the two of them to act that way, as their behavior during the...meal had been very strange indeed..._

_End Flashback:_

Finally becoming too exhausted to continue, Shampoo returned to the camp she had set up ahead of time. She reheated some of the Ramen she had brought along from the Nekohanten, even though it was effectively leftovers, it was quite good. As she devoured the delicious meal, she spoke aloud, saying with a chuckle,

"I truly hope of Pigboy's sake that, if he did go on that trip with Akane, he made sure there was a hospital close by, just in case she tries to cook for him.

**Author's Note: **In case any of you are wondering, when Akane is attacking Ryoga during the sparring session, he holding back a lot on speed, which is why he appears so slow to Akane. I figure that, due to her lack of midair combat and the fact that most of her attacks on Ranma are straight-line shots, Akane would be a two-dimensional fighter and unable to make much use of any speed or power she may have.

I also think that this punishment from Akane is worse than any of the hells that Ryoga claims that Ranma has made him see. Poor Ryoga (sheds a tear).

For those of you who are wondering, part of the reason for Shampoo's suffering through so much pain is because this technique's training is partially based off of the 'Breaking Point', as it is a more advanced technique from a similar style.

I have enabled anonymous reviews in the hopes of receiving more. I hope you send more in as I rather enjoy replying to them.

**Edited 5/17/09**


	11. Sparring with Pantyhose

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 11**

**Sparring with Pantyhose**

_I want me some tough love..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**One Day Later Sunday February 26, 1994**_

"Argh!" Ranma could be heard cursing loudly as he went through his katas as normal, although Nabiki could have sworn that she had never seen him put quite so much effort into them.

Nabiki smirked as she watched the news while the two fathers continued their normal efforts to cheat one another in Shogi. She then mentally snorted as she thought to herself, 'For all the effort he put into not caring about her training with Ryoga, Ranma is sure acting jealous now that she isn't around to see or hear it. I'll bet that seeing this would have made Akane's day, based on how she was acting before she left'

However, as the news was rather boring and not really even worth watching, being mainly devoted to a story about a woman giving birth to quintuplets, Nabiki decided to entertain herself a little by messing with Ranma's head a bit. Walking over to him with a smirk on her face, she asked him, "So Ranma, I suspect my dear sister is having a great time with a boy she likes; think you will have similar luck with your training with Ukyo?"

He growled at her, then bit out, "It's not a date! And Akane doesn't like Pigboy like that at all; not one bit!"

Nabiki's smirk widened into an evil grin as she said, with a purr that sounded a bit like a cat's, "Oh… you thought I meant Akane, I was referring to my dear sister Kasumi, she went over to see that Doctor Tofu again. Of course, I can easily understand why you thought it was Akane; you must be so jealous you have a case of Akane on the brain, don't you?"

As she went back to watching the news, which had changed to something on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nabiki couldn't help but take pleasure in how, while Ranma was vehemently denying everything as usual, his face was certainly quite red and he was stuttering the whole time. 'Ah, that's my...good deed for the day.'

As she stretched herself out, still mentally laughing at how Ranma was ranting about not being jealous, she wondered just how long it would take Ranma to realize that she was no longer really paying any attention at all...

* * *

Akane groaned audibly as she repeated the same basic kata that she had been doing all afternoon yesterday yet again. While he heard her swear under her breath, Ryoga allowed himself a feral grin at her and thought. 'She doesn't realize it yet, but her speed and fluidity with this kata has certainly grown rapidly since yesterday. Now then, to give her something to practice it on...' He then looked around quickly while continuing his own kata without conscious thought. 'Hmm...' He spied a particular hill and grinned. 'There!'

"OK, Akane, Stop!"

In less than a second, she canceled the movement she had started and, without a single wasted motion, returned to a basic combat stance, causing Ryoga to be mildly impressed. 'Very nice Akane. Now if only you could forgive me as quickly as you learn...' He cut off that thought after reminding himself that it was her choice to forgive him or not, as he had a lot to make up for.

Ryoga then motioned her to follow him until they were right next to the hill he had noticed earlier; it was rather tall, some seventy-five feet to the top, very steep, and had a number of ridges close to ground level ranging from about knee-level to eye-level. He then used a stick to draw a line in the dirt about ten feet from the base of the hill, while Akane watched, leaning against a tree and breathing heavily as she did so.

Akane was rather confused as she watched him climb up the hill after telling her to stand in front of the line, and she wondered to herself, 'What is Ryoga thinking of now?' She soon noticed though that he was gathering some boulders at the top of the hill. Unsure of what Ryoga had in mind and not knowing what to do, Akane simply stayed in a defensive combat position while she awaited his instructions.

After a few minutes, and with a rather large collection of boulders up there, Ryoga finally hopped down with a lightness that belied his incredible strength and spoke calmly, having gotten over most of his nervousness yesterday,

"Akane, now we are going to do a practical application of what you have recently learned; I will be using the breaking point to make these boulders explode, which will cause some of the fragments to fly down at you, and at the same time I will be rolling the rest of the rock shards down the hill. The ridges at the base will cause the fragments to shoot out at you at fair speeds as well. What you have to do is prevent as many of the shards as possible from crossing the line behind you while only using moves and sequences from the kata we were working on. We will continue with the training until we break for lunch."

Akane could only blink at him a moment in shock; at the speeds those rock shards would be whizzing towards her, especially the ones which had exploded; this could be very painful for her. However, Ryoga seemed to see her hesitation and quickly explained, putting his hand on her shoulder as he did so,

"Yes, I know that the rock shards could be quite painful for you, but it's basically a much less painful version of what I went through with the 'breaking point'; at this range, the rocks shouldn't be shooting at you too quickly, and it will certainly help toughen you up for future battles. Remember when I was executing the 'breaking point' in my battle with Ranma? Even though I was at the center of the blast every time, the shrapnel barely hurt me, while he was frequently injured by it."

Remembering the big battle after he had learned the 'breaking point', Akane had to admit that Ryoga had a point, although she still wasn't sure if she wanted to do training of that intensity, and nodded hesitantly as he then continued, "After this, you will have a much greater tolerance for impacts, not nearly as great as mine, but between that, and the defensive practice, it will really help in any combat you may have."

Ryoga suspected she was about to 'kindly inform' him she had no interest in training of this type, as he knew that this was far rougher than any training he had ever done with her before and he figured she was scared. However, he had sworn that he would make this training for her the best he could, and this would definitely help her a lot if she had to deal with some of the crazies in Nerima, so he quickly said something that he KNEW would make her change her mind in a hurry, talking in an understanding tone of voice,

"Well, I can sorta understand why you wouldn't want to do something this rough, so if you don't want to do this you don't have to..."

Akane was about to say that she could handle it, although she was still nervous, but he had already continued nonchalantly, "I mean, you aren't trying to match Shampoo or Ukyo, its not important for you to be able to take the same level of damage they can if you don't think you can equal them as martial artists."

Her pride stung, Akane then roared at him furiously, no longer even remotely nervous with her anger so great, "BRING IT ON! I can do anything they can, so just go ahead and start the blasted training, RYOGA!"

Ryoga jumped back up the hill while grinning inwardly as Akane, as usual when it came to the matter of her pride as a martial artist, agreed to do it without thinking. He was admittedly troubled at the thought of having to hurt her like this, but he knew that, after the first half-hour or so, the pain wouldn't be so bad at all, as her body would have gotten used to it and she would have learned how to avoid the worst of the blast. Besides, the benefits were VERY helpful indeed...

As she requested, Ryoga started shattering the boulders, sending the rocks tumbling at her it fairly high speeds. While at first, Akane's blocks showed too much strength and too little of the speed and grace she had been demonstrating in her katas, causing her to take more hits and feel more pain from those hits, but as time went on, her blocks became more sure, graceful and swift and it became rare for her to take any hits to anywhere but her arms or legs. Pretty soon, Akane was grinning as she mentally congratulated herself, 'Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!'

Unbeknownst to Akane however, While he was using the breaking point to send a never-ending wave of shrapnel down at Akane, Ryoga was also practicing with his 'breaking point' to test if it was possible to delay the explosion at all, not out of wanting to avoid the blast, but for a possible tactical advantage, as the opponent might not realize that there would be an explosion until they walked into it.

Over the hours until lunch, to his pleasure, Ryoga discovered that it was indeed possible to delay the blast, but he was having severe difficulties controlling just how long it would be delayed until the blast. Sometimes it would barely be delayed a split second; other times it could take from 5 to 10 seconds.

Taking a moment from his 'research', Ryoga discovered that Akane had improved as well; even though the rocks seemed to come in greater bursts as time went on, by the time lunch rolled around, not a single pebble had passed her guard for nigh half on hour. He then looked up, checking the time, and noticed just how high the sun had gone in the sky.

Hopping back down, Ryoga then grinned and yelled out, "OK, Let's quit for now and have something to eat!"

As Akane made lunch (Ryoga had made dinner last night and they were dividing up any camp-work evenly), the two of them talked awkwardly. Ryoga could tell that Akane was still angry at him, although she was trying to hide it, so he kept the conversation to safe topics such as the training they had been doing and changes she had been making to the recipes she used on account of his advice.

However, glancing at what she was making for a moment, Ryoga noticed that, for whatever reason, Akane seemed a bit calmer than normal as she cooked, although he could tell that she was still nervous. Shrugging, he turned back to Akane and started to give her a few pointers on her straight punches, which he had noticed were a bit crooked...

As they quickly ate lunch, three large beef bowls each on account of their hunger, Ryoga noticed that, while it wasn't half as bad as he remembered her food being before her sudden dramatic improvement earlier that week, it was certainly worse than the miso soup she had brought to him at his house two days before it had all fallen apart, and made him have to choke it down a little,

Nonetheless, as he had promised, more or less, he ate every bite before saying softly, "Uh, Akane, you might want to be more careful with the cooking time the next time you make this, it was burnt rather badly and the flavor was cooked out of it a bit."

Akane looked at him out of the corner of her eye before nodding, thinking to herself, 'Hmm, at least he is still keeping his promise, although I bet it has gotten easier since it improved, especially because I doubt he had much in the way of good food because of his many training trips. That would make it much easier to choke down. Still, though, it's good of him.'

She then noticed him getting up again, and he said enthusiastically, battle-aura rising as he did so, "OK Akane, let's spar and see how far you have come!"

As Akane moved her rather beaten body to spar with him Ryoga noticed a small, pleased smile on her face before it faded into the sneers and snarls of pitched combat between the two power fighters. 'Hmm, I wonder if she actually enjoys training of this difficulty?'

* * *

"OK Ranchan, you can no longer escape my wrath, it's time to fight!"

"Only half-right, Ucchan! There is no way you can win, so there's no 'wrath' for me!"

"Well, we'll just see about that!"

Ukyo grinned as she started attacking her beloved 'Ranchan' with the same gusto she normally only showed when fighting Shampoo or Kodachi, figuring that anything less would be a joke to him. He attempted to simply avoid her strikes with his sheer speed and skills, but she had a lot of experience and training of her own and, since he wasn't counterattacking, focused her efforts on driving him into corners or into traps.

To Ukyo's pleasure, while at first Ranma was able to avoid all of her strikes easily, as time went on, her attacks started getting closer and closer as she compensated for his speed better and better; eventually she started getting some hits in, although not many as, even though she was doing her best, there was still a major gap between her speed and Ranma's.

As the fight went on, she started to get a little annoyed as, while this was probably the best training money could buy for speed and control while attacking, she also wanted more practice on the defensive end as none of the fiancées were really speed fighters, preferring to focus more on usage of their weaponry. Besides, there were only a couple in Nerima who could even begin to match her fiancé for speed, so trying to defend against him would be a terrific workout.

Finally tiring of his not fighting back, Ukyo said, annoyed, "OK Ranchan, could you do me a favor please? Fight back some! I need more defense training and you are definitely one of the best fighters around, so go ahead and try and hit back a little so I can practice!"

As she said all of this, she was simultaneously using the human female's ultimate weapon against the males of their species: the dreaded 'puppy-dog pout', which even the manliest of men were unable to handle with without extreme difficulty. Ukyo mentally smirked as she could tell that it was working when Ranma started scratching his head before replying hesitantly, "Aw Ucchan, you know I don't like hitting girls."

At his words, she glared at him so furiously that he backed up a step with his arms help in a placating manner in front of him before she replied angrily, "Ranma Saotome! You were always serious when we fought as children, and I will have you know I enjoyed that immensely, as I am sure you did! That hasn't changed a bit for me, so if you are my friend, you will fight me back just like you would if I were a boy, GOT IT!? After all, you treat me like I am one in all other aspects of life, so why not in this one!?"

He then quietly replied to her, shuffling his feet a little, "I do know and think you are a girl all the time, that's part of the problem."

Ukyo felt rather confused and unsure how she should feel about what he had just said, so she decided to save thinking about that for later and focus on what was going on now. She could tell that he was really hesitant to fight her because it went against everything his father had taught him and decided that it was time to pull out her trump card, saying flatly, but with a steely glint in her brown eyes, "Fight back when we train or fight together, or I will ask Akane to start helping me when I make you my okonomiyaki..."

Ranma looked like she had just told him that he had only ten minutes to live, beseeching her with his gaze. Nonetheless, although she hated seeing that look on him, Ukyo kept her face expressionless as he made the choice that she knew he had to, waiting for the wheels in his head to turn; it was either eat Akane's cooking more often or go against everything his father had ever taught him about hitting girls... Needless to say, the choice was easy in the end, and Ranma looked down, clearly unhappy, and growled out, "Fine."

As they resumed their sparring, Ranma now fighting back to some extent, Ukyo felt relief wash over her, she quietly reflected to herself, 'It's a good thing he didn't know I was bluffing; I could never be angry enough at Ranchan to force him to eat that toxic sludge. No one deserves that, not even scum like Genma and Happosai...well, alright, maybe those two…'

As the fight continued on, Ukyo smirked to some extent; while Ranma was still clearly holding back a lot, she knew that it was mainly because she was so far below him; the threat she had made was so truly terrifying to anyone who had ever come into contact with the...cooking... of Akane that no-one would risk it being carried out.

After another hour, they finished with the sparring, Ukyo panting heavily, exhausted and covered in sweat from the workout she had received; however, now it was time to work on the 'soul of ice', so she forced herself to speak,

"OK, Ranchan, I need your help with the first part of the 'flying dragon ascending strike' training: the 'soul of ice'. How do you get your aura to get that cold and keep it going that long? I mean, I can make my aura a little bit cold, but it's barely below chilly, and it doesn't stay cold for very long."

Ranma then got a gleam in his eyes that Ukyo recognized from when they had been planning on how to deal with Akane's truly pitiful attempts to make Ranma jealous; this gleam promised much mischief and probable embarrassment for her in the very near, making Ukyo's blood temperature chill as she thought to herself, 'Uh-oh!'

Ranma grinned at her evilly and spoke, malicious laughter almost audible in every syllable, "Ucchan, Ucchan, Ucchan; in order to make it cold enough as well as maintain it, you have to be able to do the spiral while being completely embarrassed, until you can bring your aura to the point of cold resolve regardless of how you are feeling. I'll admit that it's rather hard, but don't worry, I have...certain ideas...that are sure to...help you."

As he continued smiling brightly at her, Ukyo couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She remembered that part of Ranma's own training as well, when his father had been showing embarrassing pictures of him as a boy to her and Akane, much to her amusement at the time.

However, given how he disliked fighting girls and truly loathed Akane's cooking, she thought he might be a little vindictive toward her for her little attempt at blackmail. Then she thought to herself, hoping that she was right, 'How bad can it be? What's the worst he could do? He wouldn't be that evil, would he?'

He whispered his idea in her ear and she immediately realized what was causing that feeling of dread. It was so evil, so diabolical, that she went beet-red with embarrassment at just the idea of it. 'It's not 'that evil'! Its far worse than 'that evil'!'

She could almost hear Karma howling with laughter as she listened to Ranma explain his plan...

* * *

As he watched her, for once with his glasses properly placed, Mousse marveled anew at her combination of sheer beauty and determination, her body slick with sweat and red-faced with effort as she panted heavily. Shampoo had clearly spent the past day slamming herself again and again against that boulder, suffering incredible pain, simply in the effort to get stronger and learn a new technique.

Meanwhile, Mousse thought to himself angrily, 'That beast Saotome doesn't understand her at all! He has only made her have to marry him while leading her on and away from the one she would have grown to love eventually, ME! As long as HE exists though, there is no way for Shampoo to ever return my love!'

For the 1327th time, Mousse privately vowed to kill that filthy RANMA the next time he got a chance to do so, just like the last 1,327 times he had started ranting on this topic. He was furious at how, in order to save Saotome's wretched hide, Shampoo was being forced to train harder than ever by the matriarch.

Squashing down the little voice that told him that Shampoo wouldn't train this hard or long unless it was for someone she truly loved and felt worthy of her love, Mousse decided that he would go on a short trip to Okinawa, as he had heard that the merchants there sold a particular item that he could use to make Shampoo...show him the love for him that he knew that she had for him hidden deep down. 'And then I can deal with Ranma as he deserves!'

* * *

As Akane walked home, she felt something rare, thanks to the boy walking beside her: beaten, sore and exhausted to the point that she suspected that even Kuno would be able to take her out with the greatest of ease.

Still, she actually felt great about how it had gone, smirking mentally as she reviewed the results of her training. In their first sparring session, unharmed and undamaged, she hadn't been able to land a single blow on him even though she could tell he was holding back a LOT; Ryoga had blocked or avoided all of her attacks with great ease and slipped inside her defenses like they weren't even there.

Akane then chuckled and thought to herself with glee, 'Bet he was really surprised the second time around though!'

She smiled at both the thought and the memories associated with it, causing a nearby man to crash into a telephone pole from inattention to where he was walking. While Ryoga had still crushed her easily, she had managed to tag him lightly numerous times and had even got one clean hit off that sent him crashing into a nearby tree, although she could tell that it hadn't really hurt him.

Eventually, she had passed the point where Ryoga was to turn off, starting to think happily of how Ranma would react to the new and improved Akane Tendo. She then giggled and said aloud, barely able to keep herself from skipping as she did so, "Won't he be impressed? Maybe he will start taking me seriously too! Heck, it really was a lot of fun, maybe I will ask Ryoga to train with me again sometime if he promises to train me like that!"

She was then started when she heard Ryoga's voice replying, "I wouldn't mind that, actually."

Akane realized to her embarrassment that Ryoga hadn't turned off when he was supposed to. Glaring at him and blushing in embarrassment at being overheard, she was about to tell him off for following her when she saw him look past him and blanch, a bad sign considering that there were few things that she could imagine that would make Ryoga react like that.

Whirling around, Akane then saw, through an ominous mist, the hulking shape of the cursed form of Pantyhose Taro breaking a hole in the roof of her house. With Ryoga right beside her, Akane then ran toward the Tendo residence as quickly as possible to see what the hell was going on, hoping that, whatever had happened, she wasn't too late...

**Author's note:** Hmm, I am starting to get rather sad at the lack of reviews. Still, I must soldier on. Please review.

I always felt that one thing that caused Akane's general anger issues was the fact that, every single fiancée (not counting Kodachi) had her outclassed in beauty, martial arts skill, and cooking; causing massive inferiority issues. As such, having someone treat her seriously and with respect would be something that she would like very much, as such; even though the training with Ryoga would certainly be painful, I suspect she would enjoy how seriously he is treating her.

Mousse in this story knows deep down that Shampoo has real feelings for Ranma and probably none for her, but he is attempting to live in a dream world rather than confront the facts, and thus uses Ranma as a scapegoat for any/all of his failings. Ryoga would probably act the same way, but he is starting to leave his dream world as, with the P-chan situation revealed to Akane, he realizes that, for once, he can't blame Ranma for this in any way. He, Ryoga Hibiki, screwed up royally and he, Ryoga Hibiki, must be punished for HIS crimes.


	12. Water: Hot, Cold and Cursed

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 12**

**Water: Hot, Cold and Cursed**

_To stop a monster..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Sunday February 26, 1994**_

-CRASH-

Ryoga, Genma, Akane, and Soun groaned as they slowly got back up after their collision right outside the Tendo residence. Ryoga was about to tell off the patriarchs when he noticed that they had a look of determination on their faces, something that he couldn't recall seeing on them in living memory; also, Mr. Tendo was in his full samurai armor, something that Ryoga had only seen before when the moronic duo were preparing to fight someone like Happosai.

As she got up, rubbing her hip as she did so, Akane noticed this too, so, apprehensively, while glancing back at Ryoga in case he didn't realize the significance, she asked them, "Daddy, what's going on? You only wear your armor when something's happening..."

Soun yelled as he and Genma started running again, just barely avoiding crashing into the two teens in their desperation, "Pantyhose Taro! Drowned virtuous man water! Wrong water!"

For a moment, Akane just looked at the two of them blankly, then, still confused, she shrugged her shoulders at Ryoga and asked, "Follow them?"

Having no other ideas, but knowing that it had to be important, Ryoga simply said, "Yes."

As they chased after them they heard the full story. Pantyhose Taro had apparently ambushed Happosai and was currently chasing him in an effort to hit him with some water from the spring of drowned virtuous man; while this would have normally been a good thing, it seemed that, unfortunately, Taro had accidentally somehow obtained the wrong variety of water: water from Spring of Drowned Twin. Also, Taro had apparently gotten far stronger, making him a significant threat in spite of Ryoga's increased strength since their last battle.

After a mass shudder on the part of everyone in the group at the thought of someone like Happosai suddenly duplicating himself and his perversions, they quickly agreed on their objective: stopping Pantyhose Taro at ANY costs.

As they ran, Akane wincing from the bruises she had gotten during their training, which luckily her father hadn't noticed, she quietly asked, "Ryoga, given how strong Taro has apparently gotten, don't you think it would be a good idea to have one of us go back and tell Ranma what's going on? I mean, he is usually the one to handle situations like this."

Ryoga was immediately hit by a wave of anger at the idea of going to ask RANMA for help, but for Akane's sake, he took a few seconds before answering in the negative to think it over, 'Argh! Well, he is experienced at this, but do we really need him that badly? It would be nice if I could show Akane that I can be relied on for something like this, as it might impress her...'

Then he realized something and spoke aloud, pointing out to her the flaw in her argument,"Even if Ranma was there, not something we can be sure about, how would you find us or Taro again? We are on a chase after all. Besides, I can handle it myself."

Akane looked worried, but bowed to his logic, deciding not to take up any more time arguing, respecting the temporary cease-fire they had, without saying so, agreed to. Quite simply, with their...livelihoods on the line, they didn't have time to spare on the 'P-chan debacle' until Taro had been stopped.

Moving quickly, with the speeds that only martial artists of their level could reach, they managed to get close enough to see that Taro had caught up to Happosai. Luckily, given Akane's inability to traverse the rooftop like the rest of them, the two of them had halted for their confrontation on the ground.

Using a bra as a distraction, Taro was about to splash him with the water, which would have ended it right then and there. However, although Ryoga was too far away to knock Happosai away physically, that didn't mean that he was out of tricks. Thinking quickly, he fired a 'lion's roar blast' at Happosai, which, being Happosai, he dodged easily. However, in the process of dodging the blast, Happosai had managed to avoid getting hit by the water, to everyone's relief.

Using the diversion to catch up quickly, Ryoga decided to try explaining about the water being incorrect when Taro opened his big -even in human form- mouth and shouted, "What was that about, Pigboy!? I would have had him if it wasn't for your pathetic incompetence! Even the Gutless Crossdresser would be smarter than that."

Akane mentally groaned at that; while Ryoga's temper was typically rather fast to ignite normally, Taro had just hit him with two insults that, for Ryoga, were REALLY below the belt, and Akane knew it. The 'pigboy' comment, because even Akane could tell that he regretted what had happened, and, almost as bad, comparing him unfavorably to RANMA, were two excellent examples of what never to say to Ryoga if you wanted to negotiate things peacefully. Akane could easily see the effect, as Ryoga went from rather frustrated to nigh homicidal in the blink of an eye, roaring at Taro as he prepared for combat.

Unfortunately, as Ryoga roared, the ever-present rain of Nerima decided to shift him and Taro into their cursed forms, killing any possible conversation instantly; luckily, the change had occurred before the rest of his group had caught up, or Ryoga would have had a lot of explaining to do. While, in most circumstances Taro probably would have taken this opportunity to flatten Ryoga into paste, in this case, while he had been insulting Ryoga, Happosai had somehow vanished from the area.

With a roar back at the group, Taro sped off into the distance in search of his prey, not quite as fast as before, but much bigger, leaving a trail of broken buildings in his wake as the two took to the rooftops. Upon catching up, Soun Tendo, for once not in tears during a difficult situation, quietly said, sighing as he did so, "This is not good."

No one could argue with him on that...

* * *

Ukyo watched as Ranma started walking back to the Tendo residence. Although she was sad to see him leave, she was too busy worrying about what Ranma had told her about his plan to 'help' her with the 'soul of ice'. 'He is taking FAR too much pleasure in this, maybe it's because of that little threat I made.' She then thought it over before admitting guiltily, 'On second thought, I see his reasoning; threatening him with Akane's cooking is cruel and unusual punishment.'

Ranma's idea was certainly a good one for learning both the 'soul of ice' and the 'body of ice' in one fell swoop; after it was over she was that she would have it down pat...

However, Ukyo KNEW that she would never, ever live tomorrow down. 'Ugh, if only it wasn't Ranchan's school, then I could transfer.' The idea was to have her work on her spirals during lunch Monday with him... in an outfit which she was sure had been created by a demon for the sheer purpose of torturing her.

She didn't even want to imagine it because it was just that humiliating, something she would never even DREAM of wearing, save for her darkest nightmares; on the bright side though, if she finished the training tomorrow she would have either perfected the 'soul of ice' or died on the spot in sheer embarrassment, and humiliation was better than pain, at least, to some extent...

Suddenly her musings were interrupted by a sound that everyone in Nerima knew, loathed, and avoided when possible: the laughter of Kodachi Kuno, the self-proclaimed Black Rose of St. Hebereke, and the girl considered to be the most likely of the girls after Ranma to be put into a mental institution. After her truly disturbing laughter, Kodachi then shouted arrogantly,

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Pitiful peasant! What were you doing with my dear Ranma-sama in such a dirty place? Trying to seduce him with your mannish, harlot's body and breath like that of a sewer rat? I am sure that he spurned you and your 'charms' in haste and with grace. However, your attempt deserves a far greater punishment than mere failure...Prepare yourself for the thorns of the black rose!"

Ukyo was frequently considered to be among the most even-tempered among Ranma's suitors -not exactly a difficult task considering some of her competition- but what Kodachi just said made her see red. She knew that, among the fiancées, she was definitely the biggest tomboy and was arguably the least attractive of the lot as, after all, while against most girls she would be considered quite beautiful indeed, Shampoo was admittedly better looking, and Akane was on quite another level...

Still, Ukyo certainly didn't need any psychotic, gymnastic freaks with over-inflated egos, a botany obsession and who were so far away from reality that they couldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole reminding her of that. She had enough problems without dealing with Kodachi, that was certain, and she had absolutely no intention of letting SLIME such as that pathetic Kuno girl insult her.

Thinking quickly, Ukyo immediately decided that, if Kodachi attacked, she was going to give her a lesson she would NEVER forget. Although Kodachi, while certainly a bigger threat than Akane in the martial arts, would normally be a relatively easy fight, Ukyo knew that, given her sparring injuries and sheer exhaustion, this would certainly be a difficult battle. Nonetheless, in the name of her feminine pride and her sheer distaste for the flower-loving witch, Ukyo was determined to pound Kodachi into rose-scented paste...

As Kodachi ripped off the rest of her clothing in favor of her gymnastics leotard, Ukyo charged in an effort to get her with an overhead smack from her battle spatula, running toward her at high speed in an attempt to surprise the scheming witch; although Kodachi was able to dodge the blow easily, laughing while jumping back just out of reach of the oversized cooking implement; she clearly did not enjoy it when Ukyo fired a fusillade of her smaller throwing spatulas at close range, after dropping the big spatula in order to clear her target area.

Quickly spinning her ribbon, Kodachi was just barely able to deflect all of the projectiles, some of which had gotten so close that they came within mere inches of her, one almost slicing into her right ear; however, she had no time to rest, for Ukyo had already started followed in the wake of her spatula barrage, blowing through Kodachi's defenses in order to grab her ribbon-arm.

Sneering, Ukyo then spun Kodachi a couple times before she could react, before hurling her at high speed straight into a wall no more than ten feet away. Thinking fast, and using all of her vast skill with her ribbon, Kodachi managed to grab Ukyo by the foot and trip her right before physics ensured a painful crash into the wall of a nearby sushi restaurant, causing her to grit her teeth to keep from screaming in pain, as Ukyo was very strong physically, a side-effect of using such a large weapon, and had thrown her with great force.

Nonetheless, both were very skilled fighters, used to pain in battle, and after recollecting themselves and, in Ukyo's case, their weapons, they resumed the battle swiftly...

* * *

After Ryoga, Akane, and the Patriarchs had returned to the Tendo residence from their abortive first attempt to stop Taro, Mr. Tendo had called the Jusenkyo guide about the tentacles that Akane had told him about seeing on Pantyhose Taro's back, while Ryoga snuck through the house on a quick trip to the furo in order to return to his human form. Luckily, Akane had retrieved his clothing, which had fallen off him from his transformation.

By the time that Ryoga, re-clothed, had returned, the guide had already told them that Taro had gotten the tentacles from a spring where an octopus had drowned a long time ago...somehow.

Akane looked over at Ryoga out of the corner of her eye, who was in what was an admittedly very unusual state for him: he was deep in thought without brooding in depression, something that Akane would have been happy to see in less-troubled times. However, realizing that she was wasting time by focusing on Ryoga rather than thinking about how to deal with Taro, she looked down at her knees, then started on a good think of her own about the situation.

'Well, on the bright side, we know where Happosai is right now, because he ran here to play with his collection after our little encounter with Taro, which is at least one bit of good news, even if we don't know where Taro is. Unfortunately though, Taro's about as stubborn as Ranma, so I doubt he will be easily persuaded about his water being the wrong type...Still, once Ranma gets back, we can probably handle it... If only Ryoga wasn't so against the idea of waiting for Ranma before we do something about it...'

Akane then remembered an argument that she and Ryoga had had back while they were chasing Taro, wherein she wanted to go find Ranma to ask for his help while Ryoga said that he could handle it; unfortunately, Ryoga seemed hurt, think that she was saying that he wasn't as good as Ranma, at least from what Akane could tell from his body language, and she doubted that he had changed his mind since that time...

Akane was still deep in thought about the situation when the fathers came over to them and Soun started talking, his tone mildly nervous but determined nonetheless, "Akane, Genma and I have come up with a plan to deal with Taro, for the time being at least..."

Genma then nodded and started speaking immediately, sounding rather worried, yet still willing to keep going, "Yes, here is what we will do..."

After a few minutes of explaining, the two fathers trapped the old pervert, Happosai, in a bag by using a small mountain of lingerie as bait, Akane secretly wondering how much of it had come from her or her sisters.

Immediately afterward, the four of them went to a nearby bathhouse on the theory that, as long as Happosai was in there, Taro would be forced to come into contact with hot water and thus become much less of a threat; while the two parents pretended to be workers in the area around Happosai though, Akane held Ryoga back so she could talk to him for a moment.

"Ryoga... I know you are a strong fighter, but I think it might be a good idea for one of us to take the time to go get Ranma. I mean, he is the most experienced at this...dealing with these sorts of situations; besides, with all of the cold water around, it would be far too easy for your..." She looked around. "...Condition to be discovered."

Ryoga felt like she had just asked him to swallow raw sewage, hating how, in her moment of crisis, she was asking for Ranma's help rather than counting on him. After looking away from her for a few minutes, during which he tried to come up with something that would change her mind and finding nothing, Ryoga finally replied sullenly, knowing it was better to let her do this rather than get in another fight with her, "Fine. Go find Raaanma." He couldn't help but to say the name of his rival with a bit of a whine to it, as going to ask HIM for help was especially galling.

After giving him a glare of reproof, as if to remind him that this was not the time to be snippy with her, Akane dashed back in the direction of her home at top speed, leaving Ryoga alone, sullenly glaring at one of the nearby walls, already hearing Ranma's gloating about how HE had been the one to save the day, not Ryoga, never Ryoga...

* * *

Kasumi smiled cheerfully as she slowly removed the last of the debris from Taro's surprise entrance, something that she was very used to by now. Her cheerfulness wasn't because she didn't care about what was going on, but because she knew that there was no way she could make a difference in the situation, so she simply ignored it, knowing that what was happening was beyond her control, and deciding to focus on other things.

As such, although she couldn't help directly, Kasumi took a quiet pride in removing the detritus of the battles and crises from the Tendo residence and dojo. After all, it was her small contribution that kept the family functioning in spite of the chaos, something which even the great martial arts skills of her father or Ranma were unable to do.

Her philosophical musings were soon disrupted however when she noticed Ranma walking inside. She greeted him and, remembering what had been going on beforehand, said, cheerfully,

"Oh, good evening, Ranma. I am sorry that dinner is a bit late tonight, but I had to finish cleaning up from when Taro decided to drop by; he decided that it was inconvenient for him to use the doors again, probably because he was in his cursed form. Well, afterward, Ryoga, Akane, Father and Mr. Saotome got all worked up about some water he brought for a bit, but decided to go to the nearby public bathhouse, so it probably wasn't all that important."

Ranma took it in and, after what appeared to be a moment's consideration, shrugged it off before going over to the television to start watching an anime show about, of all things, a boy with two alien girls trying to get him to marry them, something that Kasumi, even though she didn't watch television much, could easily appreciate the irony of, considering Ranma's own life...

As she finished up with the cooking, a simple beef bowl for once, Kasumi couldn't help but wonder if it might have been a good idea to let him know that the family's trip to the bathhouse involved Happosai for some reason, then she shrugged, thinking to herself, 'Why get him all worked up? It's almost time for dinner after all!'

* * *

Ryoga cursed profusely; while the attempt to prevent Pantyhose Taro from hitting Happosai with the 'spring of drowned twin' water had gone fairly well at first, the fact of the matter was that, in his cursed form, Taro was far more than a match for Genma or Tendo, and Ryoga hadn't been able to help until after they had gone down, having been assigned to keep Happosai busy, doing his best to keep him out of the women's side of the bath, something which he hadn't been entirely successful at...

Out of a sense of decency, he had tried to keep from looking at the women there when he had to try to get Happosai back over; however, it had allowed Happosai to get away, luckily AFTER Taro had already arrived.

Once he went in, allowing Happosai to get away in the process, he had done quite well as Taro had been unable to match him in a one on one for long after getting hit by a bit of hot water that had splashed him when Ryoga had been knocked into one of the springs.

Unfortunately Taro, having a rather significant lack of morals, hit them both with cold water from one of the extendible shower-heads nearby before chasing after Happosai, who left right before Taro could get him, apparently in pursuit of what must have been one hell of a lot of feminine aura.

By the time that Ryoga had changed back into human form and redressed himself, Taro had almost caught up to Happosai. As he chased after the two of them, Ryoga knew that it was unlikely that he could stop Taro, in his cursed form, from catching up to and possibly splashing Happosai with the Jusenkyo water.

However, if he was able to distract him, Ryoga figured that he had a fair shot of beating him one on one as his tentacles, while probably a significant problem for Ranma, were less so for him as he relied on a more grounded style and possessed greater physical strength and endurance. Also, like Ranma, he had grown significantly in strength since his last encounter, while Taro had admittedly not trained at all, and he wanted to test his new skills...

Suddenly, Ryoga saw his chance to give Happosai some breathing room and grinned wickedly, before shouting, concentrating on the depression he was feeling at Akane's apparent inability to forgive him, "Lion's Roar Blast!"

Smirking in a manner that would have suited his hated rival nicely, Ryoga wash as his chi-blast hit Taro in the back of the head right as he was jumping across a gap in between the rooftops, sending him crashing to the ground in between two buildings.

Ryoga smiled for a moment in relief, then groaned as Happosai had hopped to the ground just ahead, only one building between him and the monstrosity that was Pantyhose Taro, where the sounds of battle could be heard. Based on that, Ryoga knew that, given a couple minutes of breathing room, Taro would find Happosai and then... Ryoga shuddered at the mere thought of two Happosai's.

This meant that he had to either beat Taro or keep him pinned here as long as possible. Watching as Taro picked himself off the ground, roaring in pain as he did so, Ryoga shouted the words that he normally reserved for a different target, savoring the irony as he roared furiously, "PANTYHOSE TARO! Prepare to die!"

**Author's Note: **As can be easily seen in this chapter, perspectives frequently differ from character to character and, in some cases, from reality. This can be seen on the part of Ryoga, Akane, or Kasumi. For example, while Ryoga knows that both the Patriarchs know about him being P-chan, Akane doesn't know, or likely, even suspect that to be the case.

I figure that, while Ranma may generally be a better fighter than Ryoga, Ryoga would probably have an easier time against Taro because of his sheer durability and physical strength. This is not to say that Taro would be an 'easy' opponent for Ryoga, merely that Ryoga's strength and stamina, coupled with his special techniques, would give him a slightly better shot than Ranma, as Ranma's speed won't matter much if his individual attacks, with the exception of his 'Moko Takabisha' and 'Flying Dragon Ascension Strike', can't even hurt the guy, and I suspect that, while Ryoga might not be able to beat Taro's main body in sheer strength, his tentacles are a different story.

As may have been noticed, while he still likes her, Ryoga has definitely started losing the rose-tinted glasses he wears when looking at Akane in canon because of the 'P-chan' debacle. This will definitely have effects on his relationships with her and Ranma.

EPJ III: Generally speaking, since each scene typically has only one or maybe two points of view (Scene, not Chapter), I don't bother with an official viewpoint change other than through a change in scene.

mrbignerd: Thank you, its still nice to receive lots of reviews though.

Gangsta Spanksta: Heh, if I miss something, make sure to let me know.


	13. Cursed Water Warzone

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 13**

**Cursed Water Warzone**

_To match my rival..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Sunday February 26, 1994**_

Despite the fact that there was another battle going no more than a few hundred feet away and Happosai was within fifty feet in a state of pure rapture at the sight of a girl-on-girl fight, Ukyo and Kodachi were far too busy to care about it. Ukyo swore as Kodachi hurled another one of her explosive gymnastics balls.

'I would kill to have my normal arsenal on me!' She thought to herself.

Ukyo had left most of her weaponry at home as she was just planning on a sparring session, so she didn't have anywhere close to what she would bring if she was expecting combat; in contrast, Kodachi had brought enough weaponry for what looked like a short war, giving her a bit of an edge in options.

Normally, Ukyo had enough of an advantage in terms of power, skill, and speed to stomp Kodachi flat… in a normal fight anyway, even without most of her arsenal. However, given that she was still tired and sore from training with her fiancé, and the absence of most of her food-based arsenal, the battle was a much more difficult fight than it had any right to be. Although Ukyo knew that she still had a good shot to win, she could tell that she was at a disadvantage, as Kodachi was very tricky when she had her entire arsenal.

Suddenly, Kodachi threw one of her razor-hoops at her chest; although it would have been pretty easy to block it using her battle spatula, Ukyo did not like the idea of breaking line-of-sight with someone like Kodachi, and mentally shuddered at the thought of what the crazy gymnast might do with that.

Because of that worry, rather than a block, Ukyo ducked...right into the explosive ball that Kodachi had thrown as a follow-up. Ukyo barely managed to bring up her spatula in time to act as a shield, unfortunately, as Ukyo had feared, Kodachi took advantage of the situation to use her ribbon to grab her by the ankle and send her face first into a nearby wall, ironically the same one that Kodachi had crashed into earlier in the fight.

Laughing madly in glee, the infamous gymnast shouted, gloating, "Oh, ho-ho-ho-ho! Clearly beauty isn't the only thing in which the Black Rose outmatches you! Piteous peasant, prepare to fall!"

Kodachi punctuated her insults by hurling a fire hydrant at Ukyo, who managed to squirm out of the way just enough that it only clipped her on the shoulder. As she managed to catch herself before crashing to the ground, she thought furiously, 'OK, let's finish this before my body gives out; she can't take hits as well as I can, but I'm on my last legs between this and the sparring with Ranma...'

As Ukyo was thinking this to herself, Kodachi charged at her with what appeared to be a simple gymnastics club in hand; however, unfortunately for Ukyo, it was probably about 50 of them, all spiked, rather than merely one alone.

In doing this, Kodachi had the same feeling as Ukyo: that it was time to finish this fight before exhaustion took them, as she was quite badly damaged as well. The two of them cried out simultaneously, letting loose most of their remaining battle-aura, and Ukyo copied her in a charge of her own, screaming out, "YAAAH!"

* * *

When Akane ran inside the house, shouting for Ranma, she immediately noticed that he was already there because his shoes had been left by the front door, as usual. Apparently, he had been just sitting there, eating like a lazy bum, the entire time that she and Ryoga had been busting their butts fighting Taro.

Her sheer, titanic fury at this mixed with her exhaustion to make her speech barely more than short two or three word phrases, none of which explained what was going on, as she yelled, veins popping, at the lazy straggler, "Ranma! What you here?! Taro, Happosai, water! We, your help!"

Ranma looked at her strangely a moment, then opened his big mouth. "Well, I thought I was eatin'; but clearly the maniac wants me for something else."

Akane's mounting hysteria was immediately cut short by the 'rude Ranma protocols': if Ranma says something that can be construed as insulting, get angry, and start attacking with all of her strength. Drawing on pure reflex, she shouted back, yanking her mallet out of the chi field she normally kept it in as she did so, "Ranma you idiot!"

Akane then swung at him with her mallet, which he easily dodged away from two or three times before he started grinning, saying in a nonchalant tone of voice, "Now that you can speak again, an' make sense, could ya tell me what is goin' on?"

Akane remembered that she hadn't the time for this and, refocused again, she quickly explained what was going on, and within ten minutes they were at the now-deserted bathhouse. Luckily, when Ryoga went somewhere, he frequently ignored obstacles in his way, like walls, so they had a fairly good trail to follow. Plus, the periodic screams in the distance about "that perverted gnome" were also excellent clues.

As they quickly ran in the direction of her best male friend, Akane suddenly realized that Ranma hadn't been trying to insult her so much as snap her out of her hysteria when he had called her names. Smiling slightly, even though she was still angry at his methods, Akane followed Ranma, hoping that the two of them might arrive in time to prevent Ryoga from getting too badly hurt...

* * *

Ryoga grunted as he was hit in the chest yet again by Taro's fist; luckily, while Taro could hit pretty hard, it had been a glancing blow and, between his 'breaking point' training and what he had taken during his many battles with his pig-tailed rival, he had been able to basically ignore it. Still, the real dangers of fighting Taro weren't his pure strength, but rather that plus the many natural weapons that his cursed form possessed. As Taro sent yet another volley of tentacles swinging at him, Ryoga frantically considered his options, focusing almost entirely on avoiding Taro's attacks as he did so.

'I could try to fight him head on, but my odds of winning that fight couldn't be much more than a fifty-fifty shot, if that... Also, if he were to win before Ranma arrives, that would be very bad indeed...' He shuddered at the thought of two Happosais as he dodged a straight-line punch from one of Taro's oversized fists. 'On the other hand, I could try to fight him in a delaying battle...'

Ryoga barely avoided being smashed like a gourd by a sudden stomp follow-up to Taro's fist. '...But he would have the advantage there, I think, with all of his body's tricks. He would probably win in about five to ten minutes if I tried that, tops. Still, that would weaken him and give Ranma plenty of time to arrive.' He forced down his disgust at considering needing Ranma for help as it was far too dangerous of a situation to let his pride think for him, although he did plan on hitting his eternal rival a couple extra times in their next little battle in order to make up for it.

'It's too bad that simply telling him isn't an option...' Unfortunately, while telling Taro he had the wrong water WOULD stop him from splashing Happosai with it, assuming he believed him, Taro would likely take advantage of it to splash himself and beat him to a bloody pulp, as Genma had pointed out...

Then, after dodging a veritable hailstorm of Taro's attacks while trying to think through his predicament, not something that Ryoga usually had to do considering his skill level, he thought of something that would deal with the threat and grinned ferally. 'Wait! I don't need to beat him! I just need to make it so that he can't splash Happosai with that stupid water!'

Ryoga then quickly came up with a plan as Taro readied another tentacle barrage and, as Taro began his attack, instead of dodging around or jumping back like he had been doing, Ryoga ran under the attack, taking a few glancing blows in the process from the tentacles, but powering through nonetheless.

Still, Ryoga almost fell for a trap that Taro had prepared when the monster aimed a nearly point-blank punch at him; grabbing his opponent's fist with both of his own, Ryoga just managed to deflect it to his side, causing him to feel the wind blowing past his right cheek and wince at the thought of what an actual direct hit might do.

Even though he was under his guard for the moment, Ryoga knew it was only a matter of time before Taro was able to punish him severely for his audacious attack, but as Taro began to counterattack, smacking him from behind with yet another set of tentacles while yet another one tried to grab him by the feet, Ryoga merely grinned as he aimed his hands nearly straight up before yelling at the boy-turned-monster, "Eat this Taro! Lion's Roar Blast!"

The blast streaked up just as Taro was about to start really working him over. Already exhausted by the effort he had used, between training Akane and his running battle with Taro, as well as what it took to fire that chi blast, Ryoga barely even bothered to resist the assault.

Still, Ryoga grinned as he heard two sounds while being pummeled into unconsciousness: the roar of sheer fury from Pantyhose Taro, and the slight tinkling of the water's container shattering. As the darkness claimed him, sending him spiraling down into unconsciousness, only one thought was on Ryoga's mind:

'Beat that...Ranma...'

* * *

As Shampoo dragged her beaten, bruised, nearly broken body into the Nekohanten, she forced herself to grin at her great-grandmother for a few moments, regardless of the pain, as she was a proud Amazon warrior.

When she saw her Great-Granddaughter's badly damaged body, Cologne, knowing how damaging the training could be, restrained herself from wincing as she quietly asked Shampoo while guiding her to a nearby booth, "It went well then?"

Shampoo managed to get herself settled into the booth right before she collapsed, gritting her teeth at the agony she was feeling from the endless stream of blunt trauma she had suffered through in her training. Slightly inclining her head in a nod, Shampoo then replied, coughing slightly, "I think...I can feel the difference...between the blows and the...vibrations from them; still, I need...more practice."

As Shampoo tried to keep herself from passing out where she was sitting, Cologne quickly pogoed over to the kitchen to get her an icepack; after putting it on the lavender-haired girl, Cologne then started mixing a salve for Shampoo's wounds while thinking over how they might continue her training, preferably without more of the pain that she had already endured, as she would be unable to take that again for another days.

After some thought, the ancient Amazon then grinned slowly, which Shampoo noticed as she was offered the salve, saying, voice under control again, "Great-Grandmother, what is it?"

Smiling widely, Cologne replied, "I have devised a training method that will help you work on your ability to detect the vibrations even as you recover; it may even help you a little with Son-in-Law's heart too."

After checking for eavesdroppers, as it was a secret Amazon technique Shampoo was training in, Cologne whispered her idea in Shampoo's ear and chuckled as the girl soon started grinning in delight. Unfortunately however, thanks to her injuries as well as a few...fantasies running through her head, Shampoo soon collapsed into unconsciousness.

From the expression on her face, it was clearly a very happy one. Cologne chuckled at the sight of Shampoo curled up on the both like a cat. 'Now then, it's expensive, but the effects will be well worth it to him I bet. Hmm, how long until another set of them arrives, I wonder... We have some with us already, but the more the better…'

* * *

Ukyo wanted to scream as Kodachi continued her aggressive attack, as, between all of the hits she had taken and her sheer exhaustion, it was all Ukyo could do to block her strikes. Then Kodachi, deflecting Ukyo's battle spatula with a well placed swing of her mallet, got her with a light blow from one of her spiked clubs, nearly hitting an artery, which would be quite a pain, even with the help of chi.

Hissing in pain, Ukyo quickly countered with a last ditch strike of a point-blank volley of her mini-spatulas, which sent Kodachi crashing into the ground in pain, preparing to slam her battle spatula down on top of the witch.

Ukyo might have won that fight, in spite of her injuries, if it weren't for the mallet that Kodachi had thrown in a final, defiant strike; as it impacted her face with a thud, almost breaking her nose, it sent Ukyo spiraling down into unconsciousness, collapsing onto the pavement. As she slipped into the darkness, the last thing Ukyo saw before everything went dark was the sight of Kodachi slowly trying to get back up, an evil smirk on her face...

**Author's Notes: **Gangsta Spanksta: I tried to fix it as you recomended, did it work well? I think I might have gotten a little carried away with the advice I had received.

DiMeraslover: Its fine, although more reviews would certainly make a nice gift=).

Thank you on the Ukyo portrayal compliment. I am trying to portray her as being a little bit of two minds as, unlike the rest of the fiancée squad, she is both Ranma's friend and his fiancée. She will be having issues balancing her two roles as she both wants to win him, and help him be happy.

Aijou could have helped her if she had asked for help in cooking as its certainly a common enough ability, but I felt that her physical insecurities might be a bit greater than her ones over her skills at cooking or lack thereof, at least right then. Besides, even if she did wish for greater cooking skill, its unlikely that she could do much more than match someone as brilliant at cooking as Ukyo in it, as she is likely one of the best cooks in Nerima, at the least, so she might have figured it would be a bit of a wasted wish.

Thank you again, its quite unlikely we will see him at all in this story, although maybe as a cameo or something in the background. (Koga/Kagome is one of my many vices, eheh). Trust me, Taro has certainly showed up -looks up at chapter-, definitely.

As far as Nodoka's support goes, I will just say that Akane's antics when they met were unlikely to impress her, given that she got mad at 'her own cousin' because she was 'hanging off of Shampoo'. I will admit though, that she would still allow Akane to marry Ranma if they wanted to, although she probably won't be on Akane's side at all; if Akane wants her active support like she had in the manga, she will be facing a rather uphill battle.

James Birdsong: Thanks, I think=). I can't really understand what your review meant, eheh.


	14. Ranma's Revenge

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 14**

**Ranma's Revenge**

_Your torment begins..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Sunday February 26, 1994**_

"RAAGH!"

Taro's rage was truly immense; he had been winning against that little pig-man and planning to, after he won, splash to splash that ancient relic Happosai with the water from the Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man, when that PIG had DESTROYED the jug holding the water, causing all of it to spill onto the rooftop at his feet, making it USELESS to him.

'That stupid IDIOT! I'll KILL him!' He roared mentally as his cursed form did so aloud; meanwhile, he continued pounding on the already unconscious Ryoga. Even unconscious, it would take quite a lot to kill him, but Taro was certainly willing to take the time in doing so in order to get back at the MORON for what he had done.

His cursed form almost grinning, Taro noticed that, already, Ryoga had more wounds peppering him than if he had had a cheese-grater scraped against his skin, and he expected that the pathetic fool would soon be on his last legs. He was getting ready for another assault, when suddenly, Taro saw a blur out of the corner of his eye, a blur that was shouting at him in a rage, "Get away from him, Taro!"

Taro managed to turn toward Ranma just in time to get slammed in the chest with Ranma's 'Pride of the Fierce Tiger', nearly blasting him off of the roof he had fought Ryoga on. Recovering quickly however, Taro charged furiously at Ranma, deciding to waste him as well as Ryoga, as Ranma was trying to keep him from his rightful revenge against the bandanna-clad boy.

Really, it should have been an easy hit, as Ranma had taken a few seconds to look over Ryoga's wounds, but when he got close enough to start swinging his tentacles at him he paused as he saw Ranma's eyes.

They looked like they were small fireballs, burning in utter fury and alight with rage, something that Taro had never seen at that level in the pig-tailed aquatransexual. Upon seeing those eyes, Taro started to think that maybe, just maybe, he might have pressing business elsewhere, or, more specifically, not here.

He also started reconsidering remaining anywhere near Nerima, not because he was terrified of that massive battle-aura that Ranma was generating, nor the teakettle that splashed him with hot water, robbing him of the might of his cursed form; really, it just so happened to be that he was feeling tired of Nerima for the moment, yeah...

As Ranma dashed up to him and sent him flying into a wall with a massive kick, Pantyhose Taro started to think that, as bad as his name was, he would rather keep it as it was than try to fight Ranma in this state. For once, Taro actually apologized for trying to change Happosai, not because he felt guilty for what he had done, but rather for fear of the immense pounding he was receiving from the enraged Ranma.

This attitude of contrition lasted only until he realized that the reason Ranma had been feeling such emotion was because of the pig. When Taro laughed at the idea of being sorry for pounding the idiot, surprised that Ranma would care about what had happened to his 'eternal rival', his pain quickly returned, as Ranma overwhelmed him in a matter of seconds, once more unleashing a punishing series of furious blows.

This time he was unconscious in seconds, having been laid flat by one of Ranma's fastest and most powerful fist-barrages, thinking of but one thing as his eyes closed, 'Ouch...'

* * *

Akane looked over at Ranma as they each dragged one of the unconscious fighters home, Ryoga in her case, and Ukyo in Ranma's. Apparently Ukyo had gotten in a battle with Kodachi while she had still been weak from the training with Ranma, badly weakening her; luckily, she had managed to knock out the crazy gymnast too, or Ukyo might have gotten really hurt, considering how much Kodachi sometimes enjoyed playing with her prey.

Akane felt a wave of pity for the okonomiyaki chef overtake her as she saw the cuts and bruises all over her, as well as one particular set of wounds that Akane was sure had come from one of Kodachi's spiked clubs. While both Ukyo and Kodachi had gotten knocked out, it was clear that Ukyo had taken far more damage than her rival, only barely managing to K.O. her as well. 'Still though, in spite of her pain...'

Sighing, Akane then spoke softly, giving Ranma a certain look, "You know Ranma, I am sure you feel guilty about what happened to Ukyo, but maybe it would be better to let me carry her. You don't want her to get any IDEAS do you?"

Ranma looked at her strangely for a moment, then seemed to go 'Oh!', eyes widening before he responded with a small chuckle, "Ya know, given how badly she is hurt, I'm pretty sure romance is the last thing on her mind."

Akane was about to start telling him off when Ukyo, still sleeping, moved; the chef hooked her arms around Ranma's neck and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "My Ranchan, mine", before hugging him and giving him a peck on the cheek, resting her own against his and causing him to blush slightly.

Ranma seemed to wait for Ukyo to do something else, but, as Ukyo just kept sleeping in that position, he eventually shrugged and kept walking. Akane's aura then sparked as she glared at Ranma for his hope that Ukyo would to do something more than peck him on the cheek. Still though, she kept her anger under control for the moment, as it wasn't Ukyo's fault that Ranma was acting so pervetedly, and anything that could hit him hard enough to seriously injure him would probably do severe damage to the sleeping girl.

'Besides, unlike RANMA and Shampoo, Ukyo isn't a pervert after all. Still, at least he didn't try anything, for once...'

Soon, they reached the point where they would split up pretty quickly, her to go to the hospital, and Ranma to Ucchan's, when Ranma smirked at her and started teasing her again, "See you soon, then make sure you tell me about your 'training' with Ryoga, Tomboy."

She smirked right back at him in order to cover her worry about what he would do once he was alone with Ukyo, and said with a touch of annoyance, "Get going, you perverted idiot."

He then laughed and started walking away, a smile visible on his face as he held Ukyo close, although Akane was mildly pleased to see that he moved Ukyo's cheek away from his own, perhaps uncomfortable at the idea of her being that close to him...

Walking swiftly, as she was not too worried about Ryoga's comfort, knowing that he would barely feel a thing from anything she could do, in spite of his injuries, and she wanted to get him treated as quickly as possible. Akane saw Doctor Tofu's clinic and smiled, then quietly said to the sleeping boy on her back, before walking inside, "Don't worry Ryoga, you will be OK soon."

_**

* * *

**_

The Next Day Monday February 27, 1994

Ukyo gritted her teeth as she continued changing her clothes for the 'soul of ice' and 'body of ice' training with Ranma that she planned on doing today. Although she was certainly happy that she was going to get the chance to learn a new technique, especially one that was a prequel to Ranma's mighty 'Flying Dragon Ascension Strike', Ukyo privately vowed two things.

First, she was going to make Ranma take her on one of those ridiculously romantic dates wherein the man comes in with a rose between his teeth and vows love practically every ten steps at least one time as revenge for THIS, and not settle for anything less.

The other thing she vowed was that the next time some proud parent asked her to dress up in order to host a 'Pretty Magic Princess Birthday Party Spectacular!', Ukyo would tell him/her to take a long walk off of a short pier; she did NOT need another one of these monstrosities in her closet if there was the slightest chance of having to wear it again, or period. It had been bad enough that she had left this particular one in there...

She looked into the mirror as she finished putting on the dress and grimaced. The dress was very long, almost dragging the ground at her feet; it was colored an embarrassingly hot pink with emblems of gold stars and red hearts festooned all over it; The monstrosity was fluffy and pouffy and reminded her of Princess Peach from Super Mario Brothers, except worse because of the adornments plastered all over it.

This great embarrassment of an outfit was topped off with a pair of transparent fairy wings and a crown that had 'Pretty Love Princess Ukyo' written on it; last but not least in the parade of embarrassing things were the shoes: a pair of bright red high heels covered in glitter with a pair of pink, pom-pom shoelaces and white-feathered wings on each shoe.

After carefully considering her appearance, she came to a conclusion, 'Whoever came up with the idea of this outfit must be a sadist; I mean, what kind of monster could even DREAM of something so disgustingly GIRLY!?' Ukyo then sighed as she realized it was time, and that she had no more excuses to avoid what she knew was coming. Shuddering, embarrassment already starting to stain her cheeks pink, Ukyo slowly walked out of the locker room, wincing in pain from her wounds the night before, mentally cursing the boy she was engaged to.

Almost as soon as she had walked out the door, Ranma had immediately started walking beside her. Tensed with fear, Ukyo gave a mock-twirl and waited for the inevitable explosion of laughter from him as they started heading outside. The laughter came, but not from Ranma, instead coming from the students surrounding them, although most had already left to eat outside.

Instead, Ranma just started talking quietly, acting as if they were just going for a walk and she wasn't wearing the monstrosity, saying calmly, as he ignored her dress, "So Ucchan, think you are ready for it?"

Although grateful that Ranma wasn't laughing at her, Ukyo couldn't help herself and just looked down in embarrassment as she kept walking, thanks to the constant jeering that she was receiving from the students surrounding them. 'Right, left, right, left; that is all that matters. What I wouldn't give to break out my battle spatula on these jerks...'

Then, a sudden thought came to Ukyo, causing her to frown as she said it aloud, starting to feel a little angry, "You know Ranchan, while what your dad did during your training was embarrassing, it doesn't hold a candle to this; so why make it so mortifying for me?"

Ranma then grimaced and replied, just loud enough to be heard over the crescendo of laughter, almost apologetically, "Well, from what I heard, the more embarrassing the training, the faster the technique can be learned. It took me a fairly long time to get the 'soul of ice' down; but with this, you should be done with both that and the 'body of ice' in just one session."

He then said, shuffling in such a way that Ukyo's keen hearing could tell meant that he was shrugging as he did so, "Besides, I kinda figured that you didn't have much time because of the restaurant and all. Also, threatening me with...that stuff Akane cooks, is way below the belt in ANY situation, so I suppose you could say that this is my revenge..."

Ranma then continued with a tone of bitterness, "Besides, as funny as it was for you and Akane, the 'humiliating photo-fu' my dad used on me was probably close to as embarrassing for me as this is for you. How would you like to have horny teenage boys ogling pictures of you?"

Ukyo looked at him guiltily and said, a tone of some remorse audible in her voice, even over the constant mocking laughter of the people surrounding them, "Why didn't you use that on me then, I mean, turnabout would be fair play?" 'And I wouldn't have to be in this ridiculous dress.'

He simply replied, a bit of sadness visible on his face, "I don't have that many photos of ya, let alone embarrassing ones; most of the photos that had you in them were destroyed by rain and years of life on the road."

Ukyo looked at him and managed a grin, forcing herself to ignore the laughter; she then said, "Well after this, we are going to make a bunch more photos of each other, OK? I mean, I'm sure that a set of embarrassing photos of me would be almost-bearable if it was you who had it, you know?"

Ranma then smiled at her mischievously and said, "Sure. Besides, I always wondered what you would look like in a pretty dress…" He looked her over and his smile turned into a mischievous grin. "…I wonder if I will ever find out."

Just for good measure, Ukyo swatted him on the head after that comment, grinning as well.

As they crossed the threshold into the schoolyard, she looked over at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed that, like her own smile, his seemed to have faded as well, as the laughter grew to heights unreached before as, right then, a lot more students saw her in her hot pink travesty.

Ukyo then realized that, even though it made her want to find a convenient black-hole and jump in, she had come too far to back down, so she gritted her teeth and called upon her iron determination, finely honed by ten years chasing after Ranma to kill him and the past several months trying to win him. She had never before given up before on something important, and she wasn't going to give up now.

Ukyo then managed a saucy grin as she glanced over to Ranma and said to him, "Well, Ranchan, if you wanted revenge, you sure found one hell of a good way for once."

His grimace told her that, this was one form of revenge Ranma would have preferred not to succeed. He always did hate hurting girls, especially his fiancées. Ukyo then got into position, trying not to moan at the pain she was still feeling from yesterday's wounds, then looked over to him and spoke aloud while managing a small smirk, the best she could pull off given the situation,

"OK, you big jerk, lets get this over with!"

* * *

Kodachi Kuno frowned; she had just barely managed to defeat that peasant harlot Ukyo last night before she had fallen unconscious. However, from what she had heard, Ranma-sama, instead of congratulating her while kissing her on a soft bed covered in rose petals, had carried off her fallen foe to her house personally while leaving her to be taken home by her family, after calling them to let them know where to find her. This caused Kodachi to wonder if she had done something wrong, as it didn't make any sense.

Perhaps she had made a mistake somehow that would cause her beloved Ranma-sama to bring the harlot to help instead of her without knowing it. 'What could I have possibly done wrong? All I did was attack the harlot in order to protect my dear Ranma-sama...'

Jumping up in shock, Kodachi suddenly realized what had to be the truth, 'Of course! He is such a great, noble man that he felt himself obligated to assist the pathetic peasant as she didn't have access to the same resources I do! He is probably getting his revenge on her on my behalf right at this moment!'

While she was pondering this, she rushed from St. Hebereke's over to Furinkan high school, planning to apologize for her lack of faith; however, as she jumped over the wall, her mouth dropped open in shock at the sight before her. Quickly recovering herself, she laughed and yelled out.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! I should never have doubted you my dear Ranma-sama. In your brilliance, you have come up with a truly delicious and diabolical vengeance on my behalf for that whore Ukyo. I must leave, but when you wish to enjoy my company again, my door is always open. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

The sight of Ukyo walking slowly in a spiral in that ABOMINATION of a dress truly made Kodachi's day, nay, her week. Indeed, for the next week, she had more solitude than ever before as whenever she thought of Ukyo's humiliation, she would break out into gales of her...distinctive laughter; causing everyone nearby to run immediately as far away as they could. She found this situation to be quite to her liking.

* * *

As Ryoga woke up in Doctor Tofu's office, he was immediately inundated by the immense pain of his injuries from the night before and barely managed to stop himself from groaning aloud; managing to keep it down to a single whimper, he looked around the room.

As he did so, the doctor that he had had the unfortunate luck to need once more, something he generally disliked as he had a rather strong streak of independence, smiled at him and asked him a question, "Oh good, you're awake. How do you feel?"

Ryoga then gave Doctor Tofu a look of annoyance and replied with a growl, "Just...perfect...Doctor."

Tofu only smiled lightly at him and ignored his somewhat rude reply, causing Ryoga to muse, 'It's ironic how much he is like Kasumi in his calmness when he isn't around her... It's like a Kasumi away from Kasumi!' Chuckling internally at his little joke, Ryoga just looked away, hoping that maybe he could be left alone in his pain. At least he hoped this until said something that drove that thought far away.

"Oh, by the way, your father Kaze is at your house. He called me and told me to have you come home as soon as you recover enough. So after you rest a few more hours, you might want to go home and say 'hi' to him."

Ryoga gaped in shock at this; he almost NEVER saw his father because of his father's stupid directional issues, so this was quite a surprise. Quickly deciding that, whatever pain he was in, it was better than missing this chance to see his dad; he got up, groaning in pain again, and said, "OK, thanks Doctor Tofu! Have a nice Day!

He practically screamed in pain as he left, leaning too much on one of his legs, but it was worth it as, given enough time, his father would need to go to the bathroom and somehow make it to Okinawa.

As his patient, against his better judgment, left, Tofu said aloud, pondering to himself, "Hmm, maybe I should have told him that Miss Tendo was rather worried about him and would probably like it if he stopped by to let her know he is OK. Mmm, nah..."

* * *

As Shampoo looked down at the Furinkan schoolyard, wherein she had been planning to meet her Airen, she started crying, not from anything sad or horrible, but purely at the sight of what lay before her. Her main rival Ukyo, was running again and again in a spiral, apparently completely insane; not only that, but Ukyo was wearing something that could only be called a insult to the term 'fashion disaster'.

Barely managing to walk over to Ranma because she was laughing so hard, Shampoo somehow managed to choke out what she wanted to say between laughter and giggling, "Airen, hee-hee, wou-hic-ld you ike -ha- to talk to me- HAHA- somewhere else a -BAHHAHA-second?"

He looked at her, appearing a bit guilty for some reason, and said, glancing back at Ukyo momentarily, "Uh sure, in a couple minutes. Just lemme finish with Ukyo here."

Shampoo blinked; 'What is he doing with Ukyo? If it's not just a joke, then...' Shampoo then looked more carefully at the Pretty-Princess-Ukyo-dressed okonomiyaki chef; she then noticed her aura and frowned. Ukyo's aura was icy cold; so cold that Shampoo could see a sort of mist starting to form around her. No longer laughing at all, as the scene wasn't very amusing now that she knew what it signified, Shampoo murmured quietly, "Soul of Ice..."

As she was no longer howling with laughter, Shampoo was able to focus and ask her favorite pig-tailed martial artist to train with her Wednesday afternoon in return for something to help him deal with his problems with his mother and the stupid Seppuku contract. After he agreed, a spark of interest in his eye, even if it was marred by a little suspicion, Shampoo started to consider what she had seen that day and what it meant.

'Maybe the okonomiyaki chef is more dangerous than I thought; they have to be rather close for him to be willing to teach him one of his most powerful techniques, let alone one that powerful, especially considering that, although I doubt he remembers it, he agreed not to teach it just anyone...although I suppose that Ukyo is within the requirements to learn it, considering what Great-Grandmother said...'

Refocusing on her main interest, Shampoo then thought to herself, 'Still, Akane is the most dangerous to my chances as, even if she doesn't end up marrying him, Violent Pervert Girl will have plenty of chances to kill him accidentally as long as he remains at her home. On the other hand, even if Spatula Girl were to somehow win Airen, at least he wouldn't be at risk of dying from a lucky hit or awful food. Besides, he will eventually realize that I am the much better choice, won't he?'

Shampoo then thought of something and smirked, before saying aloud, "Even if he doesn't realize it yet, let's see if he changes his mind Wednesday!"

* * *

Although she was beginning to get hungry, Ukyo kept moving in a quick spiral, doing her best to ignore those around her, as, apparently, even though she had been doing it for the past twenty minutes, the laughter at her predicament still had yet to die off.

Nonetheless, she just kept repeating it again and again, trying to pay attention to only Ranma's voice saying "Again, Ucchan..." continuously. Focusing on this in order to ignore the jeering bystanders, she kept repeating the spiral.

As time passed however, Ukyo found it to be easier and easier to ignore the mocking laughter from the catcalling crowd; the only things that mattered to her were herself, Ranchan, and the blasted spiral pattern. Eventually she realized that, even though the crowd was still laughing and mocking her, it no longer mattered to her. With a radiant smile she shouted over to her beloved, pig-tailed fiancé, allowing her icy-cold battle-aura to dissipate.

"I think we did it! I learned the 'soul of ice'...more or less! Now let's get out of here before the laughter kills some of these jerks out here!"

Ranma's grin was just as wide as her own as they left the field, not even bothering to hurry; after all, it was good practice. Ukyo decided that she would thank him profusely as soon as she got finished changing, it wasn't everyday that one was taught a powerful martial arts technique; at least, not if your name wasn't Ranma or Ryoga.

**Author's Note: **Ryoga's father has arrived in Nerima! At least for a little while. Remember, the wish that Ryoga received only affected him so, while he no longer has directional issues, his parents sure do. Yes, Taro is being a little bit of a chicken, but he always seemed the bully-type to me and, quite frankly, he would get pasted in an honest to goodness fight against Ranma sans cursed form and he knows this.

As for Ukyo's outfit, you may notice some similarities between it and the one described in Chapter 8 of Another Rainy Day in Nerima (Read it!), this is no accident, rewind gone nuts and I came up with the idea for it together.

As for Ukyo learning the 'soul of ice' in the time it takes for a lunch break. I would suspect that, if she puts her mind to it, she would be close to as fast of a learner as Ranma. This is just theory mind you, but considering that she put up a pretty good fight their first battle wherein Ranma had already been trained by people such as Cologne and (even if he is a dirtball) Genma while it seems that most of her training was solo on her journey, I would suspect that she would have to be very good when it comes to training to even be able to keep up.

Also, she was practicing the technique on her own to some extent before she got Ranma's help, just not effectively as the actual training, giving her a fair bit of a head-start.

Still, don't expect her to be finishing the training anytime soon, as, even considering how fast her progress was so far, the third part is the hardest of all, and it is likely going to be the most difficult to replicate...

Lastly, I'd suspect that Ranma would be strongly encouraged, at the least, to not teach the move to just anyone by the Amazons, but, assuming they didn't say he couldn't, they would probably allow him to teach Ukyo, as they have bigger things to deal with than who he teaches techniques to….

**_Edited 6/03/09_**


	15. Meddling of Fathers

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 15**

**Meddling of Fathers**

_Nothing as obvious or annoying..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Monday February 27, 1994**_

Ukyo giggled, practically bouncing off of the walls as she got changed so she could get back to class now that lunch was over. Thanks to her practicing for the technique ahead of time, she had been able to get the 'soul of ice' down with plenty of time to get herself changed and take a shower. Of course, after hearing the gossip of her classmates, it was a good thing she had learned it as, without the new technique, she probably would have run away screaming in embarrassment. 'Maybe I shouldn't torture Ranchan about this; after all, turnabout is fair play, still...'

As she put on her usual boy's uniform, with the top couple buttons undone because of how hot she had gotten after all of that time outside thanks to how heavy the 'outfit' was, she decided that, rather than attempt to get revenge on Ranma for the embarrassment, she was going to thank him for his help in learning the technique. She quickly finished putting on the uniform and left the locker, looking for her fiancé. Immediately spying a recently feminized Ranma standing wet and apprehensive nearby, she had a thought. 'On second thought, why not get my revenge on him and thank him at the same time? This should be fun!'

Pasting an angry expression on her face, Ukyo walked slowly over to Ranma. Seeing her apparent outrage, Ranma started backing into a nearby wall while holding his hands in a placating position. Despite having a hard time avoiding giggling at her reaction, she managed to speak to her in a clear and angry rumble.

"RANMA...For you have done for me...There is only one thing to be done!"

Eyes wide, and clearly close to panicking, Ranma responded with a slight stutter, "N-now Ucchan, there is no need for any o' that. Let's let bygones be bygones, OK?"

Ukyo only put one hand on her while releasing her battle aura; stopping her movement while there was barely a foot between the two of them, she continued speaking an angry voice, "Oh yes it is, Ranchan. This is completely necessary..."

"No! Ucchan, Wait!"

Ranma cried aloud as Ukyo grabbed her with the other arm as well and...drew her into a warm hug while planting a kiss on Ranma's forehead. She just kept hugging an unmoving Ranma as she said, in a quiet and gentle voice, "Thanks Ranchan. I really owe you one."

As she hugged him, she heard a small cough behind the two of them. Nabiki then spoke, "I get that you wanted to thank him, but I think that you may have broken him in the process."

Puzzled, Ukyo responded with an intelligent, "Huh?"

Ukyo just stood there confused as Nabiki pulled a now unconscious Ranma out of her arms before handing something to her. Nabiki then smirked as she spoke. "You left this in the girl's locker room."

Ukyo, looking at the long cloth in her hands, realized something. 'I must have forgotten my chest-bindings when I changed back from that blasted frilly thing.' She then frowned. 'Wait a second...' After making a quick calculation, she figured that, based on relative height, when she gave Ranma the hug, her face must have been at about chest level and, given the lack of chest bindings and the fact she had left the top two buttons undone... "Eep!"

As Ukyo ran away, realizing that she had given her Ranchan quite the face-full indeed, Nabiki laughed aloud. 'Hmm, apparently Ranma really does like only girls regardless of what form 'he' is in.' She then snorted. "Won't Kuno be disappointed..."

* * *

Akane was doing something that she did so much that some people were starting to claim that she preferred doing it to anything else: arguing with her fiancé, Ranma. She had seen him earlier that day, in girl form, with his face planted squarely between a certain chef's melons, and she didn't mean the fruit; worse, he hadn't even been trying to pretend to push her off of him as he usually did when something like that happened.

This, plus his usual rampant lies about what happened, wherein he claimed that he hadn't done anything like that and that it was all Ukyo's doing, meant that the two of them were soon locked tightly in a blazing row, with the rest of the house as spectators.

"For the last time you stupid tomboy, I WAS NOT TRYING TO PUT MY FACE THERE!"

"Sure you weren't; you just happened to have your brain check off conveniently at the exact time that your face came into contact with her breasts... Idiot!"

"That's basically what happened! I thought she was going to imitate a certain mallet-happy idiot and murder me!"

"I am not a mallet-happy idiot!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

It reached the point pretty soon where something had to break, unsurprisingly it was Akane's self-control, what was surprising was what she said without intending to. "And do you know that the worst part is!? My breasts are far better than hers and I haven't seen you plant your face in them before!"

As her words echoed through the now-silent dining area, everyone's eyes seemed to pop. Ranma had gone completely red in the face with his mouth hanging out in shock, Genma looked like he was about to start celebrating, and Soun looked like he wasn't sure whether to be happy of the idea that Akane seemed to have at least some interest in Ranma, or appalled that his little wanted a boy's head buried in her chest.

In total embarrassment, Akane ran red-faced to her room, not even noticing Ranma's slight smile. 'I REALLY hope those two don't try to marry this after this; heck, I hope that they, Ranma, and I all forget that this day ever happened! THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING!'

* * *

Ryoga had arrived at his house in a great rush despite the pain; he hadn't seen his father since he first enrolled in high school or heard from him since the incident with his 'sister' a while back. He wondered how the meeting would go; Kaze, his father, like himself, put all of his heart and soul in whatever he chose to do. However, unlike Ryoga, Mr. Hibiki wasn't in the interested in the martial arts past the point needed to survive on the road; this had caused him and his wife, Misao Hibiki, to fight quite a bit, whenever they found each other, over whether or not Ryoga could train in the martial arts like he wanted.

Now that Ryoga had gotten seriously injured -while Taro hadn't broken anything, it would be a few days before Ryoga recovered enough for anything harder than sparring- Ryoga had suspected that his father would be angry. Within five minutes of seeing him again, Ryoga knew that he had been wrong; he was FURIOUS.

"...I refuse to let you continue playing around like this; it's time for you to start getting serious about your future. You WILL get a good education and enter the business and stop playing 'street fighter' with this so-called 'art'!"

Ryoga clenched his teeth as his father continued yelling. To anyone who knew Ryoga, it would be obvious which side of the family he had gotten his temper from; although scarily enough, Ryoga's temper wasn't nearly as bad when he got angry. When Kaze got angry, Ryoga knew that he could go on multi-hour-long rants if he got worked up enough.

Luckily for Ryoga, for all of his father's yelling, there wasn't much that he could do about Ryoga's plans to continue practicing the art because he would probably get lost again thanks to his mis-sense of a direction and they wouldn't be able to see each other for another few years. Then suddenly, his father said something that was completely incorrect and insane, yet was something that would make Ryoga very happy.

"On the bright side, I have finally found the perfect school for you! It has good education and discipline, and a principal who isn't afraid to implement strategic solutions or punish the students as they deserve. He is a man after my own heart Ryoga; his name is Principal Kuno! Yes boy, you are going to Furinken High School!"

Ryoga could only stare open-mouthed at his father; he hadn't been at Furinken that often other than to fight Ranma or say "Hello" to Akane, but from what he had heard from Akane as P-chan, the place was a madhouse. 'Wait a minute; Akane attends school at Furinken High School! This is an opportunity; I can get closer to her and, after I eventually win her forgiveness, we can...make Ranma jealous... Still, I am not going to give up just yet. I really do love her and I can't give up until I know her choice for certain, once and for all. Besides, even if she doesn't choose me, no way I am going to let Ranma make her miserable.'

Apparently thinking that Ryoga was unhappy about the news rather than merely deep in thought, Kaze then sweetened the deal, "If you promise to go to school and act like the other students during school hours, you can practice and play with your martial arts however much you want outside of them.'

After that little addition, Ryoga couldn't wait to say yes.

* * *

As they played Shogi together, cheating all the while as usual, Genma Saotome and Sound Tendo plotted clever plots to get their children together in holy matrimony. Akane had shown earlier that day that she was interested in Ranma, at least physically. As such, they wanted to build on the windfall as much as humanly possible quickly.

"Hmm, we could try for an immediate marriage ceremony, but they get so stubborn about their feelings for each other that it would probably drive them further apart again. What do you think Soun?"

Stroking his moustache a little, Soun Tendo thought carefully, 'If we try anything direct, they will automatically rebel against us as usual; although this strategy is working very well over the long, we don't want to waste this golden opportunity.' Using every ounce of his creative ability, Soun plotted the best he could. He looked over at his friend and, while smoothly switching two pieces on the board, said, "Genma, my old friend, I believe I have a plan..."

Genma looked at him dubiously as he replied, "The last time you said that, we ended up smashed into a wall inside the bathhouse, if I recall correctly."

Soun looked a little put out, but, as he quickly explained his brilliant plan, both perked up. Genma, with a smirk, replied, "That plan cannot fail! Let's do it Wednesday evening, it will give them a little time to forget the events of today before we implement it."

He then paused, before continuing, "On another topic, I think we need to keep a closer eye on the Hibiki boy; while your daughter was only using him to make my son jealous, it wouldn't do for the two of them to get too close."

Nodding as he defeated his old training partner with a flourish, Soun responded, "Quite right Genma, quite right."

* * *

Shampoo frowned at her Great-Grandmother; she had just been told that she would have to work nearly constantly for the next week with the exception of Wednesday because of the plans that she had already made that day with her Airen. She glared angrily at Cologne before petulantly demanding an answer, "Why?! Great-Grandmother, why am I working like a slave for the next week?! I thought I was going to get extra time off for training and winning Airen, but you are having me work extra hard instead."

Cologne sighed and looked back at her great-granddaughter kindly but sadly and replied, "It's because of dear old Mr. Part-timer; he vanished sometime Saturday after you had left to go train and I haven't seen him since. If I had been given some warning from him about his plans, then getting some extra help would have been easy; but, as is, it will be several days before I am able to find a replacement for him, even temporarily."

At this, Shampoo bellowed as she stomped back to her room, "STUPID DUCK-BOY! Why won't he stop interfering!? He always manages to find some way to flub up something simple!"

Shampoo cursed as she thought over what this would mean for her plans. 'I won't be able to do any training other than basic speed and strength training via the clever use of weighted clothing or arm and leg weights during normal work hours. This will make it take even longer to finish the first step to the 'shatter pulse' training, since I can't take the time to leave this building until long after dark! Stupid Mousse!'

In addition, this would also put a major cramp in her plans to win Ranma's heart. Any attempts to win him would have to involve him coming over to the Nekohanten or she simply wouldn't have the time for them. 'Hmm, what could we do that would be a good way to get closer to him without scaring him off? I won't have the time to chase after him in the near future because of STUPID DUCK-BOY!'

She looked around her room desperately, in search of an idea; then she grinned as her eyes came upon a small, box-shaped object. "That could work, that could work well indeed, hehe!"

**Author's Notes: **Some of you may wonder why Kaze Hibiki, Ryoga's dad, trusted Principal Kuno about the state of his school. The reason is simple, Kaze, thanks to being Hibiki with the blessing, didn't exactly have the time to risk going to find a computer to look up the school. As such, he did his best. Plus, he, like Ryoga, is rather gullible.

As for the plans of the two fathers, they are almost certainly as subtle and clever as they usually are. AKA, not at all.

DiMeraslover(Chapter 14): Thank you very much, I was trying to keep them all in character and I hope it worked well. Although Ryoga isn't exactly a loved one, I figured what Taro was doing would cause a similar reaction as Ryoga is also his friend and Taro is beating him when he is clearly already unconscious. I still don't know if Ranma could defeat Taro in a one on one at that point if Taro was in cursed form mind you, but out of it is clearly going to be a one-sided beating.

I felt that Ukyo would treat wearing that dress similar to how a guy might if he was caught in it because she is such a tomboy, with complete and utter mortification. Shampoo is viewing the engagement situation from a purely logical viewpoint, ignoring any/all feelings and focusing on what each party could offer Ranma. From that perspective she would likely win as the Amazons would offer him access to a great many new techniques and tricks, plus, if they are willing and it is necessary, a solution to the whole fiancée mess via multiple marriages.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately (Would you like it if someone married you because of the perks rather than because it was you?), Ranma isn't the type to make a decision like that based solely upon what he has to gain from it. He will try to be honorable and marry the one he loves most; besides, he has to keep the promise he made to Ukyo back in chapter 6.

DiMeraslover(Chapter 12): Actually, Ryoga probably has a better than even chance against Taro unless he gets stuck in cursed form. Read Chapter 13 for my reasoning=).

I agree with you quite a lot on Genma and Soun getting hurt, those meddlers would be bad enough if they actually succeeded in their plots, but they instead fail while annoying everyone around them, making them twice as much of a pain; as such, I might enjoy having them accidentally run into the fists/weapons of various character, just to blow off steam on my part=). After all, better them than Ranma!

I am hoping to keep most of the characters in a state of a shade of grey, none of them are perfect beings, but most of them are good people, even if they have severe flaws. As for Kodachi...I can't say I would have been surprised if that had happened regardless of how Ukyo was feeling, it just so happens that Ukyo was already sore when she attacked.

DiMeraslover(Chapter 11): Indeed they are, indeed they are; just one question, what do you mean by 'stick and move'?

Yes, I must admit I have a bit less pity for Mousse because he has already been rejected for 13 years with no sign of that changing so I feel he should give up. None of the other major characters in this fic have received an official brush-off as of this point, unlike him, so I can understand why they would continue in their aspirations, especially because it does seem that Ryoga, Ukyo, and Shampoo all really do love the targets of their affection; not that I am saying that Mousse doesn't, but there comes a point that you really should just give up and move on.

Yes Ukyo does have that on the competition, but there is also a major danger in the strategy she has adopted: that in the process of making sure she grows her friendship with Ranma, she paints herself into the role of the buddy from childhood. Given that, when they were children, Ranma always thought she was a boy, this danger would be lethal to her chances of winning him as a husband if it were to occur.

I cannot really reply on your thoughts about Akane, save to say that I do blame Soun and Genma a great deal for preventing Akane and Ranma from finding out if they could make it as a couple as, if they tried, they have legitimate concerns of finding themselves within 24 hours prepping for the "I do's".

Thank you very much, I hope I have been doing a good job on Nabiki, I have some difficulty on pinning her character down sometimes, and its good to know it has been going well.


	16. Shampoo's Outing

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 16**

**Shampoo's Outing**

_To Create a Bond..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Two Days Later Wednesday March 1, 1994**_

Shampoo waited nervously at the Nekohanten for her planned training with Ranma. 'I hope this goes well; when we went on an 'official' date, it basically blew up in my face.' She remembered the time the time that she had made Ranma go out on a date with her in exchange for some Instant Jusenkyo powder. 'That did not go well; he didn't really want to go out on a date with me, at least not for only that reason. I guess by making it a trade, I must have cheapened it for him.'

As her nervousness threatened to consume her, she remembered what Cologne had told her.

_**Flashback earlier that Day:**_

Cologne was sitting at one of the booths, just watching Shampoo as they had already closed the Nekohanten because of Shampoo preparing to leave; Shampoo was agonizing over the training session with Ranma later that day that she had planned to turn into a date...not that he needed to know that. 'What should I wear? Should I put on some make-up? Eyeliner?' Without meaning to, she accidentally spoke aloud. "How do I make it clear that I want this to be a date?"

Cologne glanced over at her anxious great-granddaughter and sighed as Shampoo realized that she had said the last sentence of her internal monologue aloud. The ancient matriarch then hopped over to the distraught girl and asked her in a tone that made it clear that she was bring serious, "Shampoo, what is a date to you? If you went on one, what would you want to happen?"

Shampoo frowned as the thought over her answer; other than the farce of a date she had gone on with Ranma when he had been trying to get the Instant Jusenkyo Powder, she had never been on a date before. All of what she had learned about them had come from magazines. Thinking quickly, she replied to her great-grandmother, "If I could make it into a normal date with him, I would like to hold hands with him, kiss him, and do other romantic things with him- like you do on a normal date according to the magazines. And all while getting to know him a little better and vice-versa."

Cologne rolled her rather large eyes and sighed once more, and then spoke with an exasperated tone of voice, "Come here child, we have much to talk about it appears; also several magazine subscriptions to cancel while we are at it."

_**End Flashback**_

'OK now Shampoo, remember what she said.' She recited aloud, "The purpose of a date is discover if you are compatible with the person you are dating, as well as enjoy yourselves and learn more about one another; you do not need to kiss him to do that!"

Then she heard an all too familiar voice speak, " What was that Shampoo?"

Blushing profusely, Shampoo whirled around and saw Ranma standing right beside her with a somewhat wary smile as he looked at the chui she had summoned mid-spin. She looked at the ground in embarrassment as she had nearly knocked out her Airen before their...outing could begin. To save face she quickly asked him, "OK, we start our training elsewhere, follow me Airen, Okay?"

Shrugging, Ranma followed her easy as the pair of them took off along the rooftops of Nerima.

* * *

Ukyo smiled as she served her customers; she loved her work with a passion only surpassed by her feelings for Ranma and enjoyed every single "Yum!" and "It's delicious!" she received by those fed by it. Suddenly her peaceful contemplation was interrupted by an angry shout from the entrance to the Ucchan.

"OK, WHERE IS HE!"

Ukyo made sure she had one of her throwing spatulas in hand as she turned toward the door to see an angry and the Tendo and Saotome patriarchs glowering at her. Frowning, Ukyo glared at the trio before she motioned outside. The four of them left the restaurant whereupon Mr. Saotome immediately launched into his question with an angry glare and a rumbling voice.

"Miss Kuonji, where is my dishonorable son!? He and I were to have a parent-child day together today and I haven't seen him since he left for school this morning!"

Ukyo blinked in surprise; she had never pegged Genma as the type to take the time to do something like this with his son. In fact, she would have been surprised if he had told the boy that he was proud of him more than maybe once per year. Suspicious, she cautiously asked him, "A parent-child day?"

Soun Tendo, for some reason, was the one to nod and respond, "Yes, the two of us are each taking a day to bond with one of our children together."

Ukyo glanced at Akane; she couldn't believe that even someone as dense as Akane always demonstrated herself as capable of being could see this as anything as anything other than obviously a poorly-hidden attempt to get her and Ranma together on a date. If it had really been what they were claiming, a parent-child day, Soun and Akane wouldn't have bothered to look for Ranma.

While she was still thinking, Akane said angrily, "Well, if he isn't here, he's probably with that bimbo Shampoo, the pervert! Let's get this over with so we can go on our da...parent-child days together and stop wasting daylight!"

Genma quickly nodded and, bowing to Akane's logic, said, "Indeed, let's get moving...quickly!"

As the trio rapidly ran away, Ukyo walked back inside, feeling like snakes were beginning to slither around inside of her gut. What she had just heard had changed things significantly in Nerima; one of the reasons that she had always been fairly certain that she would end up winning the race was that, while it had become pretty obvious recently that Ranma felt something for Akane, it was also obvious, at least to her, Akane had apparently not viewed him as much more than a possession, something she didn't want to give up, but didn't really care for.

That meant that, even if Ranma was interested in her now, when he came to his senses, there would be only two real options as he didn't seem to have any feelings of that sort for the other two Tendo sisters and Kodachi was clearly nuts. However, Akane, with that slip of the tongue that apparently only she had caught, had just shown that, at the very least, Akane was considering him as a real romantic prospect.

As she started cooking up yet another okonomiyaki, Ukyo started to think, 'OK, let's think this over; Akane is now officially in the game. She meant to say the word 'date' and was clearly interested in going on it. Still, whatever she feels, it is up to Ranchan. Even if she is in the game, she can't get an outright victory right yet; they may be interested in each other, but whatever happens, I know Ranchan is going to keep that promise he made to me. He won't marry her, or anyone for that matter, until he is absolutely sure he wants to spend the rest of his live with her; so I don't have to win the battle now, I just have to win him in the end.'

Frowning as she continued serving okonomiyaki to her customers, she considered the other thing that Akane had said. 'Is he really on a date with that China Girl?' Losing control as her mind instantly reverted to 'RANMA IS MINE!' mode, she thought furiously, 'I need to do something NOW! I have to drag him away from that harlot and...' Regaining control again, she remembered the promise she had made. '...let him make his own choices. I did say I would let him do that, didn't I? I have to let him do whatever he wants with Shampoo, don't I? Even if I didn't actually say that, I think that was the implication...' Trying to keep her newfound depression from overwhelming her, she kept serving her delicious food the remainder of the day and night, a gloomy look firmly planted on her face.

* * *

Shampoo gulped; this was her chance to get somewhere with her Airen, something she hadn't really managed to do since she had returned from China, and she was extremely nervous. She then remembered her great-grandmother's advice from before; to just enjoy herself doing things that they both liked, like the training she had planned to do with him. She then smiled slightly; they would enjoy themselves and find out if they might have a chance together today and she would let nothing spoil that.

However, apparently Ranma had gotten tired of waiting for her to say something as he asked her, "So...what will we be doing?"

Shampoo locked away what was left of her nervousness with an effort of sheer will before turning to Ranma, ignoring the small winged creatures fluttering their way through her stomach, and replied, "This training is for a style that Great-Grandmother recommended to me; its based on the sensing of vibrations and using them to create powerful shockwaves.

She paused as she tried to remember Cologne's explanation, then continued, "You actually get a pretty simple task; just stay about 10 feet from me at all times and don't let me touch you at all. I get the tough task; I have to try to tag you while blindfolded and keeping my ears plugged."

She could tell that Ranma thought it sounded really boring and easy for him and decided to tell him about the reward she had promised him.

"We will be doing this until about eight in the evening; at the end, you will receive five bars of our waterproof soap, minus one for each time I tag you. Think about it; every time your mom shows up, whichever form you are in, you will be safe from sudden splashes as long as the soap lasts."

Ranma thought it over a moment, then grinned at her, causing those accursed stomach-dwelling flying things to beat their wings even faster, and replied cockily, "When can we start?"

Shampoo grinned too.

* * *

Akane had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she continued her search; Ukyo she could at least reasonably expect to not try and be perverted if she said she wasn't going to be. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Shampoo; she was about as perverted as Ranma could be and seemed to enjoy enabling him. 'Humph, who would want to be perverted with him? He and his hard chest...nice butt....beautiful eyes...STOP IT!' She rebuked her perverted inner self. 'OK, wait until after the date, then enjoy his...attributes.' She then moaned a little in despair. 'Its official, I have the bug too, I have become another pervert thanks to Ranma.' She was so deep into her internal debate; she barely noticed that Genma had started talking.

"That disappointment of a son of mine! He shouldn't be trying to be trying to avoid...bonding with his father so much!"

Akane sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Who do they think they are kidding? A parent-child day with Ranma and I the same with the four of us traveling together? Please, it's obvious that this is a date.' The troublesome inner voice then commented, 'Yes, but that's why it's something worth doing after all.'

Meanwhile, as they arrived at the Nekohanten, Soun responded, "Well, it's not like he knew about it; still he must apologize for embarrassing his fiancée by spending so much time with her competition!"

Akane quickly shouted a denial as it wouldn't do for her to appear to be interested with these two around. "I am not interested in Ranma! Now let's get this over with so we can go on this blasted dat...Parent-child thing!"

Then a certain Amazon matriarch appeared from the kitchen.

"What's with all of the ruckus? Oh! Well,well,well; what are the three of you doing here? I doubt that it is for the food, as we are already closed for the afternoon."

Akane was about to respond, but Genma beat her to the punch, "Where is my son? He was supposed to go out on a parent-child day with me and Soun."

Cologne looked the trio over and seemed to consider something before she replied, "Really? Well he didn't mention it when he agreed Monday to train with Shampoo today. Perhaps it slipped his mind?"

Akane could feel the cold knife plunging into her gut with every word that Cologne uttered. She knew that, after his training day with Ukyo, he wouldn't try to do anything with Shampoo; but she also knew that, regardless of his initial intentions, he would end up doing something perverted if a girl was involved. As Akane's heart started freezing over, Cologne continued speaking, cutting off Akane's train of thought.

"Well, if you were needing to find him, you might have a difficult time; in order to train properly, Shampoo and Son-in-Law will be traveling all over town."

Akane's heart froze into a block of ice as she realized that Cologne was telling her that the so-called training was just an excuse; Ranma WAS going on a date with Shampoo. She knew this as she couldn't think of any form of 'training' that required the martial artist to travel all over town. Not waiting for the others, she ran out, fury rising with every step. She shouted to the heavens, "How DARE he!"

* * *

Shampoo cursed; she had been trying to find and catch Ranma for two hours by then, to no result; while at first she had shown rapid improvement, he had soon started leading her into crowded areas to confuse her with the vibrations of a multitude. Even though she knew that he was still within ten feet of her the whole time, she was having great difficulty tracking him with all of the other people creating their own vibrations.

Focusing, she tried to ignore the distracting vibrations and find his location. Smiling slightly, she turned away from Ranma, and then suddenly leapt straight at him. Apparently, she had surprised him enough that, even with his great skill at dodging, she managed to tag him with her left hand. He let her know that it was him by tapping her three times on the forehead, as they had agreed at the last minute before starting.

Shampoo cheered mentally as she let him up again, preparing to continue. 'Yes! I got him! On the other hand, I doubt I will be able to surprise him like that again. Now then, like him or not, its time to catch that slippery boy! Focus Shampoo!'

As they continued, she kept at her attempts, however, after the little trick she had pulled on him, he was being a lot more serious; luckily, the crowds were no longer much of a problem. In fact, she started using them in efforts to cut off his escape routes.

By about seven o'clock, she had finally managed to tag him a second time. As she continued, she smiled at him while shouting loudly in an overly serious tone of voice and struggling hard to hold back a giggle, "RANMA! It doesn't matter what you try...For you there will be no ESCAPE!"

Even though she couldn't hear him or see him, she knew her Airen was laughing as they continued the chase; as she kept it up, caught up in the joy of improving oneself, she couldn't help but wish that catching her beloved was half as easy as catching him in this training exercise...

**Author's Note: **Well-well-well, it looks like Shampoo is starting her first big push to win her Airen's heart. Meanwhile, Akane is starting to come out of her denial and Ukyo is worried about what it might mean. And before you ask, yes I really do think that Soun and Genma would be stupid enough to try such an obvious excuse to set them up on a date without letting them know ahead of time.

As for any complaints about Akane being out of character, from what I have heard and read, she is definitely a bigger pervert (I have begun to loathe that word) than Ranma ever is. The assumptions that she jumps to involving Ranma much of the clearly indicate that her mind enjoys wallowing in the gutter. (Not that this is a bad thing!) I wouldn't say that she is particularly perverted, just that she is a normal human male who has wants and needs of her own, but tries to pretend that any such feelings are below her.

DiMeraslover: I can neither confirm nor deny what Ranma was feeling when he had his head betwixt Ukyo's assets=). As for the Ranma/Akane vs. Ranma/Ukyo...Hmmm, again, I can neither confirm nor deny. Sorry, but I cannot really go into what Ranma is feeling as that's one of the main things you won't be seeing, at least not until the end.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that a beating for the proud non-parents is coming soon, to my sadness.

Hmm, that is something I have always wondered as well, how Soun would really react to Akane having to go on a honeymoon with his baby girl. I mean, I'll bet that he would probably drown Genma and himself in his tears at that point (One could always hope!). Well, in all honesty, I doubt he will be in the same class as Akane as, if Ryoga and Ranma were in the same class, I doubt that there would be much of a high school left by the end of his first day! I can neither confirm nor deny what will happen with Ryoga, but he does definitely have a fighting chance for her.

goku90504: Thank you very much, I hope I can=).


	17. Plans over Ice Cream

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 17**

**Plans over Ice Cream**

_Mmm...Delicious..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

**_Wednesday March 1, 1994_**

Shampoo was in the midst of yet another attempt to tag her elusive Airen on the arm, when suddenly he dodged and, hopping next to her, held her wrist; this was their agreed-upon signal that the time allotted to their training was up. Panting a little, Shampoo reluctantly removed her earplugs and blindfold; she had almost gotten Ranma five time, and had wanted to do so before time ran out. Still, tagging him four times was certainly not bad.

Ranma, apparently deciding that now was a good time to make up for being unable to talk to her for several hours, then spoke in a mischievous tone of voice, "Well, Shampoo, that really was kinda fun; I mean for a while there you did a pretty good impression of a completely wasted drunk and all, but in the end you really started pressing me."

Shampoo stuck her tongue out at him before replying with a giggle and a teasing tone of her own, "I was not like a completely wasted drunk! I had just had a few too many shots, like Panda-man the night after Katana-woman left!"

Ranma rolled his eyes while smirking and said, "Sure..." Then he stage-whispered, "Drunken old bat!"

Shampoo gave a "Hmmph!" and slapped him lightly on his right cheek before yelling, "I am not old!"

Snickering, Ranma continued teasing her, "So...you are just a drunken bat? I see, that's OK..."

Making use of the 3,000 years of Amazon heritage, Shampoo came up with, "Arrgh!"

She proceeded to chase after him with her chui for about a minute, on purposely missing, until the grumbling of their stomachs brought their game to an abrupt halt. Blushing and looking at her toes a bit, Shampoo spoke aloud. "Eheh, are you hungry Airen?"

Ranma groaned as he scratched the back of his head; then he muttered with a scowl, "Yeah, but it already way past dinner and I didn't tell the Tendos where I'd be. Still, maybe I'll get lucky and find that Kasumi saved me a piece."

Although the training had gone well, Shampoo still wanted to spend more time talking with Ranma...Something that wouldn't happen if he left now and went home. Looking around wildly as Ranma started to get moving, her eyes fell upon a small shop; she quickly said, "Wait! Ice Cream!"

Ranma looked back at her, eyebrows raised, and said, "Er, what?"

Running up to him, Shampoo put her hand on his arm and pointed at the ice cream parlor and said, "Let's have some ice cream to cool us down a bit before we go home. OK?"

Ranma frowned and, somewhat regretfully, replied, "I can't; it's just not manly for a man to eat ice cream."

Shocked at that, but feeling that her time was better spent with him than puzzling out what he just said, Shampoo, thinking quickly, grabbed his hand and practically dragged him inside while saying, "Maybe, but it is actually very manly for a man to eat ice cream with a pretty girl!"

Before Ranma could come up with a response to stop the vivacious Amazon, even if he had wanted to, she had already drug him inside.

* * *

Akane slowed down; she had been looking for that bimbo Shampoo and Ranma for several hours now with no sign of them. 'This is stupid, it was only for some dumb date set up by our dads to get us together, I shouldn't care about this.' Then the inner voice that had started to plague her more and more often said to her, 'And yet it does; I don't know about you, but I bet you really wanted to go on this 'Dumb Date' of your dads'.' Artfully, she replied to the voice, 'Shut up!' Then it fell silent inside her head again.

Sighing, she thought to herself, 'Well, I guess I'll give him a chance this time; if Ranma tells the truth about whatever perversions he may have committed, I guess I won't punish him as hard as usual.' Picturing said imagined perversions with herself as the target of them, she blushed. 'Maybe if he had an outlet he wouldn't be so perverted...'

Considering it to herself, Akane decided, 'It may be against all of my principles, but it is my duty as a martial artist to protect those to cannot protect themselves!' Firmly banishing suggestions from that darned voice of suggesting various types of perversions she might be interested in attempting, she knew that it was her sworn duty to do this in the name of protecting women everywhere; as such, it was necessary for her to offer herself as a sacrifice on the altar of Ranma's pervertedness. Said voice 'said' dryly, 'You've got to be kidding, who needs that kind of excuse to admit they find someone attractive?' She ignored it and continued on her search, only to hear a most unwelcome voice.

"Ah, the beautiful and fair Akane Tendo, how are you this glorious evening/ If you are in the midst of a quest to obtain a date with me, have no fear, for you have succeeded."

Rolling her eyes at yet another one of Kuno's lame and unwanted speeches, Akane irritably replied, "Kuno. Leave. Me. Alone. Got it?"

Clearly using his normal brainpower, Kuno replied, "Oh precious Akane, nothing could keep me from your side if you so wished it. However, as it appears that, once again, you are under a spell from that black-hearted evil sorcerer, it will be my pleasure to find and defeat him in your name!"

As Kuno speedily left in pursuit of Ranma, Akane said aloud, "What kind of idiot would possibly have to try so hard and take on so many airs in pursuit of someone; I don't know any girls that are that pretentious and overly dramatic."

She started to get the distinct feeling that the voice in her head, which was starting to remind her so much of a certain pervert, was laughing at her, fit to burst. Ignoring the voice in her head yet again, she decided to head home in case Ranma had already finished whatever he was doing with Shampoo.

* * *

"...so basically the point of this training is to sense vibrations so that you can make use of them in your attacks? How would that work?"

Shampoo enjoyed herself listening to Ranma as he asked her about the style she was training in; she had just finished some of the basics. Thinking carefully, she responded happily, "Do you remember the 'breaking point' technique Pig Boy has? He uses his ki to cause an inanimate object, usually a rock, to shatter explosively. Well, this style tries to take vibrations and supercharge them with ki energy, hampering or harming your opponent. At least, that is what Grandma said, eheh,"

Blushing, she scratched the top of her head as Ranma continued licking his ice cream cone, his fifth one, seeming to consider what she had said; then he chuckled, "Well, I guess ya gotta expect some really strange styles of martial arts if ya hang around Nerima, ya know? Now that I think of it, this doesn't even compare in weirdness to some stuff I've seen, like 'martial arts tea ceremony'."

'Martial arts tea ceremony? What the heck? On second thought, nevermind; I don't think I want to know. Wait a minute! Here's an opening!' Shampoo cleared her throat and, in a voice that attempted to be casual but was far too jittery, asked him, "I think I have an idea to get a leg up on these weird styles actually."

Ranma looked at her a little suspiciously, maybe because of her jittery voice, but still replied with the same excitement he had shown all meal, "Really? Like what?"

Knowing that she did NOT want to make this sound like another attempt to trick him or date him, Shampoo quickly said, "Yes! I was thinking, there are probably a bunch of move out there that we probably haven't even considered, but are basically sitting right under our noses."

Ranma, no longer suspicious, but sounding a little skeptical, asked her, "If they are under our noses, why haven't we found them already?"

Shampoo swallowed, then rushed onward, "Well, think about it, in stuff like manga, anime, and video games, there are strange attacks shown in them all the time, but we never bother really considering them because we are just looking at them for entertainment. I mean, a lot of them are probably useless, or would take too much time to learn, but some of them might be worth looking at. I mean, have you ever looked at the array of moves available in the typical Super NES fighting game? Its massive!"

Ranma, seeming to be skeptical still, replied, "Well, I don't have a Super NES, so… no go, I guess."

Shampoo decided to rush on with her plan and responded, "Well, if you are interested, I have a Super NES at the Nekohanten in my room. We could play that if you wanted to..."

As she bit her lip nervously, Ranma, now appearing both skeptical and suspicious at the sound of going to the Nekohanten, said quietly, "Maybe, let's talk about it another time though. Kasumi said she would be making dessert tonight, and I wanna be home by nine so I don't miss out."

A bit sad at how her plan was apparently a bust, Shampoo looked at a clock, then informed him, "Well its 9:30 now..."

Eyes wide, Ranma finished the rest of his cone in one bite and yelled, "Gotta go, sorry!"

As he started to rush out the door, Shampoo remembered something and quickly yelled, "RANMA, WAIT!"

He stopped and turned back. "What?"

Shampoo quickly grabbed all the bars of waterproof soap she had been carrying and put all five into his hands, causing him to raise his eyebrows and quietly remind her, "I thought you were supposed to give me five bars minus one for each time you caught me; now my math may suck worse than Akane's cooking, but I'm pretty sure that only leaves one bar for me as you caught me four times."

Shampoo smiled at him and giggled at his unsure expression, then replied, "Heehee, I just wanted you to try to avoid me seriously, otherwise it would have been far too easy for me!"

At Ranma's still nonplussed expression, she quietly continued, no longer laughing, "Besides Airen, I know that if your mother finds out about your curse, she might kill you; I may have tried to trick you several times in the past, but this is really serious. Great-Grandmother and I have sworn to do whatever it takes to keep you from dying, and five bars of this waterproof soap is nothing compared to what we can do if you need our help."

In a rush of courage, she gave him a quick hug and said, in a much happier tone of voice, "Now then, go get that dessert Ranma!"

This time Ranma didn't stop, but Shampoo saw him beaming as he left, causing her to start beaming as well as she thought, 'Those dumb magazine-dates have nothing on this!'

* * *

"No dad, this way!"

Ryoga groaned as his dad tried, yet again, to make a left turn when they were supposed to be going straight. They had gone to Furinkan high school to get him signed up that afternoon when school let up just fine, in spite of his father's accursed lack of a sense of direction; however, now that it was dark, Ryoga was having a much harder time keeping track of his dad and they had been forced to slow down a lot. Seeing a familiar front door, Ryoga quickly called out, "Look dad! We're home!"

The two of them quickly went inside; even though it was dark out, Ryoga knew that his dad probably wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet. Given his lousy sense of direction, if he left the room for as little as a cup of water, it would probably be another year before Ryoga saw him again. So, in order to keep his dad from getting lost and leaving him again, at least for a little while, Ryoga decided to ask him to stay by him and tell him his favorite story again. It was a sentimental story and always gave Ryoga hope of success in winning Akane's heart when he heard it; plus, he knew that his dad loved telling it.

Stifling a yawn, Ryoga asked, "Dad, could you tell me the epic story of Kaze and Misao again?"

Kaze Hibiki smiled at his son; even though he was still in pain, Ryoga wanted nothing more then to spend more time with his dad. Not having the heart to say no, especially because he liked telling the story just as much as Ryoga liked hearing it, he started his tale of him and his wife while the two of them sat down on a pair of cushions in the dining room.

"Well, your mother and I knew each other since we were young as we were second cousins in a rather close-knit, on account of our little directional problem, family; as we grew up, we weren't particularly close when we were young; in fact, I think Misao rather disliked me at the time. She did walk up to me once, smile, and give me an award as 'Jerk of the Year', complete with pin. Luckily, that started to change as we started high school."

He stopped for a moment, patting his son's head as he reminisced with a smile on his face; then he continued. "When we started attending high school together, we found that we actually had a lot in common and started hanging often more often, partially because, with our truly abysmal senses of direction, it was better to always be near someone, even if they had the same problem. Three rights make a left after all."

Ryoga smiled as his father continued talking; he always related the coming part to his own life in order to give him hope most of all.

"Well, I started to really fall for your mom when we started attending Tokyo University together; we started hanging out more than ever and even became roommates. Well, one day I decided to tell her how I felt; I walked into our apartment, with a flower and a smile, ready to confess to her. As I opened the door however, I saw something that still haunts me sometimes, Misao busily making out with this man I had never met before; apparently he was her new boyfriend"

Ryoga could see his dad grit his teeth at the memory, apparently it still pained him after all of these years. Ryoga wondered what it would feel like if, one day, he walked in on Ranma and Akane making out, and realized that pain would probably be a massive understatement. His dad then continued.

"The reason I hadn't met him yet was because she wanted to be 'absolutely sure' before she told me. You see, she had quite a lot of men after her, your mom did, and many of them pretended to be perfect gentlemen; heck, some of them were perfect gentlemen, but she still turned them down. So, what was most painful wasn't the fact that it seemed I had lost to a man, but rather that I had lost to a man like this one."

"That piece of scum and I shared locker rooms as we were both on the track team, so I got to frequently hear his comments on their relationship, as well as his opinions about it. He was the type of guy who hated being 'tied down' and would never commit to anything. If something was important to him, then Misao would always be put on the backburner without a second thought; but if he wanted a piece of arm-candy for some event, then Misao was to drop everything immediately on his behalf."

He then sighed and looked Ryoga in the eyes as he continued. "Now, to make matters worse, Misao was like many of the women in our family tree. She seemed to enjoy, or at least not mind, having a boyfriend who wanted to commit herself totally to her, but couldn't commit to her in any way himself."

"Well, I told her how I felt anyway, and she told me that she was touched, but she was in love with HIM. While I stopped pursuing her actively -that would have been wrong, as I had been rejected and she already had a boyfriend- I made sure that she knew I still had feelings for her while I continued to support her. Misao and her boyfriend ended up staying together for three years, all the way through college; then the two of them simply drifted apart. Eventually though, nearly a year after their break-up, she asked me out of the blue if I still loved her; when I said yes, she said that any man who is willing to keep waiting for so long deserves at least a chance."

He smiled as he continued his story, this was his favorite part of it after all, "Well, one date led to two, then three, then pretty soon we were dating and it...just happened. It wasn't like some epiphany, but rather we grew closer and closer until we each couldn't imagine life without the other one in it. A year or two down the road I popped the question and, without a hint of surprise, she said sure. We never looked back and, although it may have been two years since I have seen her, I know we will surely find one another again; we always have and I suspect that we always will."

As he brought his story to a conclusion, he smiled as he noticed that Ryoga had fallen asleep on his giving him his own cushion to use as a pillow, he realized that he needed to go use the restroom and decided to leave the room for a 'couple of minutes'.

* * *

Akane narrowed her eyes as she heard the door open and ran over to confront Ranma, who was...grinning like a lunatic. With a great sense of foreboding, she shut the door behind him and spoke, "Ranma? What happened today? Where were you?"

Ranma looked over at her and replied as he slipped off his shoes, still grinning, "Well, I went to train with Shampoo today and she told me that, if I helped her with it, then she would give me something to help deal with mom."

'Yeah, but what's the catch?' Akane rolled her eyes, then said in a rather snippy tone of voice, "You know Ranma, the Amazons haven't been too consistent on doing what they say; what makes you think that would change now?"

Ranma motioned her over to him and held out one of his hand; when she reached out to it with one of her own, he put an object inside it… a single bar of soap. Akane's mind blanked out for a moment, but then she remembered. "Jusenkyo Waterproof soap?"

Excitedly, Ranma nodded and replied, "Yup! She told me that she would give me some bars of it depending on how well the training went! I was sure I was only going to get one as she tagged me a few times, but she gave me all five of em, telling me that she had planned to do that anyway and just wanted me to try hard with her!"

As Akane's mind reeled, Kasumi walked in and, with her usual smile, said, "Ranma dear, would you like some ice cream with us? If you need to, you can eat it in your girl form."

Kasumi left for a moment as Ranma considered her offer. 'I know that it wasn't a date, but Shampoo seems to be getting awfully close to _my_ Ranma. In order to protect her from him, maybe I should ask him out.' Her other voice then replied to that thought scathingly, 'Oh please, admit it already, you are not going to ask him on a date to protect Shampoo; you are doing it because you want to get him closer to you and maybe sans clothing.' In the end, while fidgeting a bit, Akane said, "You know Ranma, today was supposed to be a parent-child day for our dads and us; would you be willing to try it again tomorrow?"

Ranma, a little red in the face, but still smiling, said, 'Yeah Tomboy, sure."

Akane fidgeted even more and said, "Maybe it would go better if we let the two of the stay behind?"

Even more red-faced, but grinning bashfully, Ranma, while stuttering, said, "S-sure, that sounds fine."

Akane soon left the room with a brilliant smile on her face as Ranma politely declined the ice cream, saying that he had already had some; but she was too happy to care right then about what Ranma might have meant by that.

**Author's note:** First of all, some of you may be wondering what is causing the double-voices thing inside of Akane's head. It's not really another voice so much as the inner pervert that she always tries to pretend she isn't; unlike her it is clearly much more willing to admit her attraction to Ranma, which causes the dissonance. Eventually the two voices will merge as she realizes that she can't pretend to be something she isn't; she isn't a princess, but rather a relatively normal girl with desires and wants.

As for the story of Ryoga's dad and mom, remember, its just fine in Japan for first cousins to marry, so second cousins are no problem. Just wanted to make that clear as, at least to me, it seems fairly clear that Ryoga's parents have to be related, at least in this fic, given the fact that both of Ryoga's parents have the directional problems, and in this fic it is a hereditary 'blessing'.

Also, in case this chapter doesn't make it obvious, Ryoga subconsciously views himself, Ranma, and Akane, in the roles of the story a bit; with Ranma being the 'evil' boyfriend.

TegwenielWestwind: Thank you for both the comment and the criticism; part of the reason for Akane's relatively negative characterization thus far in the fic is that, in canon, she has clearly been shown to have quite the jealous streak and frequently blames Ranma for any situations between him and a girl. This would likely be severely increased by that fact that, at the time, she wasn't ready to admit any feelings, while she saw her rivals starting to make some real progress with Ranma.

DiMeraslover: Thank you, although her desire was more along the lines of beating up Shampoo than the trio. I suspect that it would indeed hurt like a knife in her heart, but it is things like that that define a person. As for Akane, she definitely needs to grow up some I admit, but don't count her out just yet. Remember, we are going with this fic until the very end of the Ranma manga plus maybe a tad more, so far we are maybe midway through book 21 (We started midway through book 20). So any winners or losers will get LOTS of time to prepare their moves and grow up while striving for victory.

Shampoo is indeed making headway, although she has her own weaknesses too, namely the fact that she has definitely tried to trick him the most of the three real possibilities. This makes him very suspicious of her and will, at the very least, take some time to work through. As for Mousse, well, let's just say that things with him will be coming to a head rather soon.

I cannot say for sure what will happen with him and any other female character, but I can definitely say that he will get either closure or end up with Akane. I just couldn't bare to let what happened to him in the manga happen again in this fic. (He never got to know, one way or another, what Akane would think about him being in love with her or being P-chan) He definitely needs some growing up too (most of the Ranma characters do after all).

I can't say Ranma's opinion for certain, but he will indeed be making a choice by the end of this fic on who he wants.

I can't say for certain what will happen to Genma and Soun as far as pain goes, but I can guarantee that Genma will NOT be thrilled with what Nodoka will be doing in some of the chapters to come; will that suffice?


	18. Bestial Arrivals

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 18**

**Bestial Arrivals**

_The roaring of battle..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day Thursday March 2, 1994**_

Shampoo smiled as she entered the dining area of the Nekohanten. She was still in a state of ecstasy from the events the night before, especially because Cologne had told her that she was nearly finished with the vibration-sensing portion of her training; although she believed that Shampoo should finish the training with the boulder-crashing method so that she could gain the impact resistance that came as a side effect, similar to the 'breaking point' training. Then, to her surprise, Cologne told her, "Shampoo, we are closing down the Nekohanten for the day; we have some visitors coming and it would be best if I were to meet them privately. As such, you have the day off."

Although puzzled by her words as she had been expecting to have to work all week, Shampoo nodded and left cheerfully; maybe she could run into her Airen before he went to school today and spend some time with him. 'Hmm, after that, maybe I can continue training some; I will need to significantly increase my strength if I am to protect Ranma successfully after all.' She knew that Ranma was very strong...but it was clear to her that he was in danger as long as he was around Violent Pervert Girl and, as his wife, she had to remove him from that dangerous enviroment by any means necessary.

Her train of thought suffered a breakdown when she heard the voice of her primary rival for the pig-tailed boy's affections shouting at her. "Shampoo! We need to talk! NOW! Got it, China Girl!?"

Stopping and putting the breaks on the bicycle she was riding, Shampoo slowly turned to face her least-favorite okonomiyaki chef and said, in a dangerous tone of voice, "What is going on...Spatula girl?"

Glaring at her balefully, Ukyo asked in a deliberately calm voice, "Akane stopped by my restaurant yesterday, asking about Ranchan with Genma and Soun alongside her. In the midst of the usual babble from the idiot duo, I heard two interesting things; tell me, did you and My Fi...Ranchan go on a date together last night?"

As she kept her eyes focused on the accursed chef, Shampoo thought the question over carefully, 'I could lie to her and tell her it was a date, but I'll bet that she would just ask Airen and find out I was lying; plus it would probably undo all of my progress with him if he found out I lied about our outing.' Deciding to avoid that possibility, she told the truth calmly, "Airen and I did some training together, then grabbed something to eat because he was hungry; that's all."

Looking a little relieved, Ukyo nodded. She then said in a troubled voice, "Yeah, I kinda figured it would be something like that; it was Akane and the idiot duo after all. Still, I wanted to see what you would say."

Shampoo, getting a little annoyed at the girl, was about to leave, hoping she had enough time to see Ranma before school, when Ukyo continued and said something that definately caused her concern. "On a far more serious note, China Girl, Akane and Ranma were supposed to go on a dual parent-child thing with the idiot duo, obviously a cover for a date between the two 'lovebirds'. Admittedly, that wouldn't be so bad, but Akane knew it was a date and not only went along with it, but actively tried to find you guys in order to make it happen."

Before Shampoo could really think it over however, a shadow cast from someone standing on top of a nearby fence brought an abrupt halt to the conversation.

* * *

"Hey, Ryoga!"

Ryoga stopped his trek to school, the first one since he had followed his rival to China in pursuit of revenge for...something he couldn't really remember anymore, and looked back to see Akane running over to him. As she reached him, she smiled for a moment and said, "One sec."

She then turned to Ranma, running after her on top of a nearby fence, and called out, "Hey Ranma! I'm gonna hang back a little bit to talk to Ryoga!"

Ranma looked puzzled at this, but for some reason had a small smile on his face as he shouted, "Sure!"

Ryoga was stunned that Ranma was actually allowing him of all people to spend time alone with Akane so easily and with, of all things, a smile on his face. 'No "I'm your secret girlfriend/sister!"? Has Ranma been affected by magic again?' However his thoughts on this matter were cut off before they could really get going when Akane started speaking.

"So Ryoga, listen up OK? I still haven't forgiven you for the...thing you owe me for, but I really liked how the training went this past weekend and was wondering if you might be willing to do it with me again, on a more permanent basis. I mean, if Ranma can train with his floozies without doing anything perverted a couple of times, we certainly shouldn't have any problems, right?"

Ryoga considered asking Akane if he could get her forgiveness if he agreed to her request, but decided against it. 'I want her to trust me again and forgive me because SHE wants to, not because she has to or I am making her.' After a brief pause, he replied while they started to walk again, "Yes, that sounds okay. What would be a good time for you?"

She seemed to think for a moment as the two of them continued on their walk to the school, then replied, "How's 4:30 after school today sound for our first session?"

Ryoga just shrugged as if it was no big deal, then nodded. "That's good."

Akane smiled, a happy sparkle visible in her eyes, and said, "OK Ryoga, See you then."

The two of them kept walking for a few minutes while Ryoga started thinking, 'Hmm, what would be a good idea to start training her in? I suppose that some light wearable weights for everyday training would help her build up her strength a bit, but that was never really her weakness...' Ryoga kept grappling with what it would take to train the beautiful woman with eyes like a cloudless day beside him effectively, when she suddenly turned to him. In a rather exasperated tone, she asked him a question. "Out of curiosity Ryoga, why are you following me to school?"

Realizing he had forgotten to tell her, he quickly replied, "Oh, I meant to tell you that my dad showed up Monday and signed me up for classes at Furinkan yesterday before vanishing again. He has a truly abysmal sense of direction after all."

Akane's annoyance quickly fled her face and, smiling again, she asked very rapidly and with a look of happiness in her eyes, "Your dad showed up?! You haven't seen him in ages have you!? How did it go!?"

Before he could even begin to respond to her verbal barrage, a nearby wall exploded, for once NOT Ryoga's fault, and a strange figure stood there.

* * *

Ukyo looked up at the strange figure standing on the fence nearby; it was a boy of a fairly young age, maybe twelve or so, who seemed to have either hair or a cap similar to that of some kind of animal. He also seemed to have other animalistic features on his body. Although she was unsure whether or not this boy was an enemy, she didn't care much as the overall effect of his features was rather...

"CUTE!"

Ukyo wanted nothing more than to go and run her hair through his hair when she noticed that he was standing next to Shampoo, sledgehammer in hand, stuttering something about asking her to come with him to the Nekohanten and how this would be his first time speaking to a girl.

Eager to play with his strange hair a little, Ukyo smiled brightly, walked over to him, and said, "If you want to, I would be happy to talk to you; is that OK?"

Then the boy glanced over at her and, with a small sneer, replied, "I'm not interested in talking with someone like you. You seem like a man, so just stay out of my way."

As he returned his attention to Shampoo and she started laughing, Ukyo's mind went blank as she could only think about what he had just said. 'I seem like a...man? I seem like a man!? I SEEM LIKE A MAN!?' One of her worst nightmares flashed before her eyes, the one where Ranma and her were standing at the altar, about to be married, when he stopped and said sorrowfully, "I can't marry a guy, sorry Ucchan." This caused her to skip angry and become absolutely FURIOUS.

With a wordless scream, Ukyo charged straight at the boy, intending to make him a pancake with one good whack of her battle spatula; he dodged the attack and, while he was in her blind spot, seemed to vanish. As she whirled around, looking for the brat, a barrage of what appeared to be a strange variant of a dagger hit her in the sides, pinning her to a nearby wall. As she hit her head and started fading into unconsciousness, Ukyo whispered, "For this, I swear, you...will...pay..."

* * *

Akane stared at the strange man before; he had short hair, black in the front and a strange, striped combination of pink and black in the back, and wore made of what looked like tiger pelts. He also shifted nervously, but creepily, as he asked her, "You're a woman?"

Not too worried with Ryoga standing beside her looking like he was going to pound the man within an inch of his life, Akane rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, did the skirt give it away?"

Completely unfazed, the man said, in a tone of voice that seemed almost worshipful and made her feel even more creeped out than before, "For the first time in my life...I'm talking to a real live woman..."

As Akane blanched, he continued in a very nervous and creepy tone, "Okay...now...try to touch her..."

As he reached towards her breasts, Ryoga apparently decided enough was enough and came to her defense; drawing his ridiculously heavy umbrella, he smashed the creep over the head with a shout of, "You PERVERT! How dare you try to do that to Akane!?"

After clutching his head a moment, the molester recovered and growled, clearly spoiling for a fight.

Meanwhile, dropping his umbrella on the ground, Ryoga attacked with his fists while he shouted, "You will PAY for seeking to harm Akane Tendo!"

Ryoga did a straight-line punch at his target's chest with what appeared to be a good portion of his full strength, which clearly he expected to drop him for the count, but the strange man seemed to shrug off the blow and grabbed Ryoga by the back of the neck and slammed him into the concrete below with a great deal of strength, knocking the mighty warrior unconscious in one blow.

The man then turned to face Akane just in time to meet a mallet to the face. As she kept the mallet in a ready position, the man seemed to look her over. Apparently deciding she wasn't worth the trouble, the man muttered something that sounded like: "Maybe I should find some other woman instead, she seems too much like Master Herb..."

As the man left, Akane pulled Ryoga out of the now-cracked pavement; holding his head in her lap, she barely noticed Ranma heading over as she tried to wake the bandanna-clad boy up.

* * *

As the two of them left for the Nekohanten, Shampoo glanced back and looked at Ukyo's beaten body and decided, 'She may be my enemy, but I will definitely let Great-Grandmother know about this so she can help. No one deserves to be left like that...except for maybe Violent Pervert Girl.'

Laughing at another one of the things that the boy, named Mint for some reason said, she fondly pictured the same scene of Ukyo's beating as earlier, but with Akane in Ukyo's place.

She smiled at the other boy, Lime, as he told them about how he had had no luck with the women here, especially not Akane, and empathized with him a little, she had had similar issues dealing with her Airen after all. She did wonder, given how the two of them seemed to especially like talking to beautiful girls, why Lime had decided NOT to drag her with them; but she supposed that dealing with Akane was even more than boys like him could handle. 'Heck, it's probably considered suicidal behavior.'

She wondered again why her great-grandmother had suggested that she stay away from the Nekohanten today, but figured that she didn't have much choice now. Besides, it might be something interesting. She took one last look back at Ukyo and said aloud, "Um Lime. Mint. Let's hurry, okay?"

The other two shrugged and they quickly made their way to the Nekohanten by way of the rooftops, like any real martial artist. 'In other words, not Violent Pervert Girl.'

**Author's note: **Well, now it appears that the cat is more or less out of the bag when it comes to Akane's attraction to Ranma. I wonder if Ranma will be happy about the idea of Akane agreeing to spend time with Ryoga on a frequent basis.

As for Akane's altercation with Lime, the reason he DIDN'T grab her is partially because she fought back unlike in canon, and partially because of the wish she made all the way back in chapter 1.

As for Ukyo and Mint...Guess what made him think that way=).

Remember, any opinion shown by the characters is not necessarily shared by the author. If they bash their rivals mentally it might just because they dislike them. (Looks at Shampoo)

Some of you may be wondering why we just started the Herb arc considering what I said last chapter about us being only midway through volume 21. The reason is that we are moving up the Herb arc a bit; we aren't canceling all of the stories in that volume, just moving them.

James Birdsong: Thanks again!

DiMeraslover: Thank you very much for your compliment on my portrayal of Shampoo. As for her reasonings, I might have some different reasons, but they will be shown a bit in later chapters. Mousse won't be here for another few chapters...but you will know it when he arrives. No comments on the spin jump=).

You're welcome, and you will see Nodoka's plan next chapter I believe; he will get hurt where it hurts him more than even his stomach with Akane's cooking inside it, that's all I am saying.

The 'Lust Bunny' was actually in Akane's head, sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Thank you again, I wanted to add a bit of new depth to his character (Neither Ryoga, Ukyo, nor Shampoo were developed as much as Ranma and Akane, and that actually gives me more room to work with!)


	19. Herb's Pride

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 19**

**Herb's Pride**

_I have fallen..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Thursday March 2, 1994**_

"Mmm...Ranchan..."

Ukyo was hoping to sleep in a few extra hours that morning, even though her bed was a bit cold, because for some reason her alarm clock hadn't woken her alread. Nonetheless, she heard a familiar, masculine voice and felt someone shaking her. "Come on Ucchan, wake up..."

As the person kept trying to wake her up by shaking her a bit, Ukyo tried to push him away by flailing her arms while she protested. "Nuh-uh Ranchan! Go 'way, sleep now..."

She heard someone else in her room sigh and say in a feminine voice, "Its no use Ranma..."

The first voice then sighed before saying mock-regretfully, as well as a bit mirthfully, "Sorry Ucchan, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."

Ukyo knew that voice from somewhere and for some reason, as she heard it, she had the strangest sense of dread grow in the pit of her stomach. As her dread turned slowly into sheer terror, she felt what seemed to be five fingers rest lightly on each side of her ribcage. As her subconscious blared a warning, she started flailing trying to skooch away from the fingers; but before she could figure out just what it meant, that voice spoke again, in a voice that one could almost hear the evil laughter inside of, "Saotome school secret technique! 'Ten Fingers of Laughing Doom!"

Suddenly, those fingers that laid lightly on her ribs traced a blistering path up her sides, under her armpits, and across her neck, before returning back to her stomach for a perfect finish, leaving agony in their wake. Ukyo could only scream out one thing as she sat bolt-upright from the savage tickling she had just received at the speed of a 'chestnuts roasting in an open fire', "BYAAAH! Byahahaha! Sto-hic-p it Ra-guh-nma! Not-ka-again!"

She heard Ranma chuckle as, relying on long unused reflexes, she whirled toward him and bopped him on the forehead as she fixed a deadly glare upon her sadistic fiancé; then she suddenly realized that, unless she had moved out recently and had started sleeping on solid stone, she was definitely NOT home in her room. She then noticed the three concerned faces of Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga around her; then Ranma asked her in a soft tone, although she could still hear the mirth in it, "What happened Ucchan?"

Ukyo, staring into his worried eyes, tried to remember what had happened to her prior to waking up again. 'Let's see, I was knocked unconscious by that boy, but woke up a few seconds later to hear Shampoo, that boy, and some other guy talking together about going to the Nekohanten; then I fell unconscious again.' Then she remembered what that boy had said. 'So I seem like...a...man?' Her battle aura then roared as she jumped up and, heading to the Nekohanten, screamed, "That...ARGH! I'm going to kill that boy, then neuter him! I DO NOT SEEM LIKE A MAN!"

As she ran off, roaring in rage, the other three glanced at each other worriedly, wondering what she had meant by that; they then started chasing after her.

* * *

The cloaked figured smiled, although it could barely be seen under its hood, as its two attendants and a rather buxom, lavender-haired girl in a flowered pantsuit walked inside the Nekohanten. Standing up from the chair it had been sitting on, it said in a rather gruff tone of voice, sounding unusually deep, even for a male, "Prepare to go. Lime. Mint. I have located the treasure."

Mint, a loyal if somewhat thickheaded boy from the wolf line, whined, "Aww! We're leaving already?"

Rolling its eyes beneath the hood of its cloak, the figure said in the same gruff, overly deep voice as before, "The quest must not be delayed; Lime. Mint. Follow."

The two attendants sighed and, in a depressed tone of voice, said, "Yes Master Herb..."

Herb had almost made it to the door, when a girl with a blazing hot battle aura, who for some reason was wearing an outfit that appeared to be designed for a boy, ran past screaming. Taking one look around, the girl's eyes locked on Mint; then she roared like a wild beast and charged Mint with...a spatula?

Eyeing the girl, Herb realized from her attack that she was clearly quite skilled, enough so as to cause serious delays in starting their journey if she continued her fight with Mint. As two more boys and another girl ran inside, Herb shrugged, and ran up to the girl as she took a swing at mint with her spatula, grabbed her, and hurled her against a nearby wall with a great deal of strength, knocking her out instantly.

One of the new arrivals, a boy in a red Chinese silk shirt ran past Herb as the trio prepared to depart. Glancing back, Herb noticed the boy checking to see if the girl dressed in boy's clothing was even alive. Herb smirked at this as the strength in the throw had been carefully calculated to only knock her out; there wouldn't even be any permanent injuries to her.

This chain of thought was disrupted however when, after apparently finding a pulse, the Chinese-shirted boy said in a low, angry voice, "Hold it. Who do you think you are?"

Herb frowned as this foolish boy continued in a voice that was growing more heated with every syllable, "There are some things you shouldn't do, especially to my friends, and what you just did to Ukyo is pretty high on that list! You'll pay for that!"

The Chinese matriarch Cologne shouted at the boy to stop, but he didn't listen; instead roaring as he aimed a jumping kick at Herb, who was starting to get quite annoyed at this fool. When Herb blocked his attack easily, the boy deflected himself back towards the ground, then, in a rather impressive display of athletics, came back with a quick barrage of punches without losing any momentum. Although the boy was quite fast, Herb was faster, and soon forced him on the defensive. After the boy had been put fully on the defensive, Herb grabbed one of the boy's arms after one of his blocks and threw him into the ceiling.

Sure the fight was over after that, Herb prepared to leave before the fool woke up before suddenly realizing that this boy had rebounded off of the ceiling and was aiming a kick straight at Herb's head. Dodging back in order to prevent him from scoring a direct hit, she was still unable to prevent this EXTREMELY annoying boy from forcing her shirt down and pulling off her cloak; revealing that Herb both preferred to wear white armor with dragon-hide pauldrons… and had a rather nice pair of breasts...

* * *

Akane could only watch the battle ensue in horror; Ranma, after accidentally causing the strange female to accidentally flash everyone in the Nekohanten with one of her breasts, had been hit with a single, powerful uppercut that sent her hurtling back into the air. The girl then leapt over Ranma before flying under him, somehow causing him severe damage and knocking him out before, as was Ranma's usual luck, crashing into an inconveniently placed bucket of cold water and turning him back into a her.

Akane shouted his name as the strange women, after looking at Ranma's female form over with a look of anger, called out to one of those two strange boys who were traveling with her. "Mint. Bring me the 'pail of preservation'!"

Cologne quickly hopped onto a nearby table and said warily, "What are you planning Herb?"

Ignoring the old matriarch, the woman, apparently named Herb, drew some water out of the pail and splashed the unconscious Ranma with it. Immediately afterward, Herb, with a smug smile, said, "Just be thankful she didn't lose her life! Come. Lime. Mint. We're leaving, our quest has been delayed long enough."

Realizing that Ranma must have been badly hurt as she still hadn't gotten up to call out a promise to challenge Herb again; something she would probably have done if she could, Akane and Shampoo both rushed over to him to see if he was okay and wake him up. For once they didn't even care about the presence of their rival in their concern for the pig-tailed girl. Luckily, Ranma woke up soon.

Immediately after he was conscious enough to understand her, Cologne started talking, something about how Herb, Lime and Mint were the descendents of the Musk tribe; a band of warriors who wanted to perfect the arts of form mimicry so much that they used the cursed springs of Jusenkyo to take animals and turn them into women in order to marry them.

Normally, news like that would have been very important to Akane, but she was busy dealing with Shampoo and a recently awakened Ukyo, who had dragged her into a corner so that they could have a talk. As she waited for them to begin, Akane maintained an impassive mask the best she could, lest they see how concerned she had been about Ranma. Eventually though, Shampoo started talking in an undertone.

"So...Akane, we've been wondering...how have things been going with you and Ranma lately?"

Even though the words were mild, Akane started to grow a bit afraid. 'What if they find out how I feel about Ranma? Err, might feel about him...' That perverted inner voice she had started to really dislike then spoke up. 'Who cares!? As long as his hot lil bod is yours, it doesn't matter if they know how you feel about him, right!?' Ignoring it once again, a task that was starting to become harder, she proceeded to deny any and all feelings toward Ranma as best as she could. "Considering how much of a jerk he can be, we are doing fairly well, not that I care."

Ukyo, in a sunny, casual tone of voice, said, "Yeah, I know what you mean, he enjoys messing with people a bit, doesn't he?"

Relieved that they were in a safe topic, AKA one that didn't involve her feelings for Ranma, Akane replied confidently, "Yeah, he sure can."

Continuing in the same tone of voice, to Shampoo's apparent confusing, Ukyo said, "It can certainly be infuriating; still, he isn't a bad person is he?"

Barely paying attention to her answer anymore, Akane replied, "No, I suppose he isn't."

Ukyo then said, nonchalantly, "He probably wouldn't be that bad if he was actually trying to be nice, like he probably will be in that date the two of you are going on, right?"

As Ukyo had apparently hoped, Akane responded without thinking. "Yeah, he'll probably be good on our da-te..."

Akane gulped at the looks in the other two girls' eyes as she realized her mistake, but it was far too late to take it back now...

* * *

Nodoka Saotome smiled slightly as she arrived at the Nekohanten; she had managed to find some time to stop by Nerima and hoped to see her son this time. 'In addition to my son, I can hardly wait to see that nice Shampoo girl again; she seems to care very much about my son and is clearly very eager to court and hopefully marry him. Unfortunately, we have to first deal with the problem that, while she is married to him according to the eyes of both China and apparently the UN, she has no standing legally here in Japan.'

She thought carefully about that. 'Maybe I can offer her and her great-grandmother a deal; annul the Chinese Amazon marriage in return for a traditional Japanese fiancéeship. It will help her here in Japan, giving her the legal ability to court my son, without preventing Ranma from being unable to leave Japan unless he divorces her; something I don't think he really would want to do.'

Realizing that the Nekohanten was closed for the day, she elected to wait until the Amazons returned before going over to the Tendo residence. She then considered the other two fiancées. 'I must admit that I rather like Miss Kuonji; she has proven herself both kind and honorable in her actions, even according to her rivals. She spent ten years chasing my son and husband in a vendetta because they ran out on her and her father with her dowry for some reason, yet, when she got the chance to kill Genma, she didn't even though she probably could have, and when she realize that Ranma wasn't at fault, she forgave him instantly. Honestly, I would probably support Ukyo if Shampoo wasn't a choice.'

Then her thoughts turned to Miss Akane Tendo. 'I can't say that our first meeting went well; in fact, it was almost as bad as my first meeting with Genma's parents. How was I supposed to know his father was only trying to test my bravery and not kill me when he pulled out that katana?' She flashed back guiltily to when she attempted to turn her husband's father into a girl via application of his own sword, ironically the very one she carries now.

'I can't say that the opinion of her rivals has been very flattering; they claim that she is very violent and denies any feelings for Ranma, yet tries to keep him from any of his other fiancées. Still, they definitely have a vested interest in putting her down, especially because it seems that she has the home court advantage given that she is living with him- although, with all of his training trips, it cannot be that great of an advantage. Also, her family claims that she really does like him and is just afraid to show her feelings. Still, I can't say that what I heard of her fighting with Ranko is that encouraging.'

In the end, Nodoka decided to keep an eye on Akane, but give her another chance. Her mind then turned to a topic that caused her to frown. 'Unfortunately, even considering the situation, Genma has done quite an awful job of managing it; if, as I have heard, he is encouraging Ranma to ignore the other engagements in favor of the Tendo one; that is unacceptable. However Ranma managed to obtain them, they are certainly real engagements and must be treated as such. To not do so is to risk dire levels of dishonor and, at the worst, blood feuds...'

Still troubled, Nodoka then settled herself in for a fairly long wait and took a short nap...

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Cologne and Shampoo both winced and sighed at the scream coming from the Tendo's. Cologne then looked at Shampoo and said in a quiet, sorrowful town of voice, "It appears that our fears and the legends were both proven accurate. Son-in-Law is indeed locked permanently in cursed form, at least until we find a cure."

As the two raced towards the Tendo residence, Shampoo suddenly frowned and asked, "Didn't the legends say something about a kettle of liberation or something like that which could unlock the curse? Couldn't we use that?"

Cologne looked at her great-granddaughter, then sadly shook her head and said; "Yes, but Herb and her attendants are already on their way there; I think that it is still the best option, but if Herb reaches the artifact first, there is a distinct possibility that Ranma will be unable to defeat her given Herb's clear advantage in speed and strength shown during their fight."

Shampoo then seemed to think to herself for a while, until they came in sight of the Tendo's; whereupon she suddenly stopped and spoke up with cautious excitement, "I remember that, when I was a child, I was told of how some of our ancestors thought that the Musk tribe's practices were disgusting and attacked them in order to capture the 'women' and unlock their Jusenkyo curses before curing them completely. We would have had to have some way to unlock it to attempt that in the first place then, wouldn't we?"

Cologne couldn't help but feel a wave of pride wash over her at Shampoo's excellent deduction. She herself had completely forgotten that tale, but if it were true, then they probably did have something that would unlock the curse located somewhere in the tribe's treasure store. It would merely be a matter of finding such an item via searching the village archives, then sending for it. Smiling, she then told Shampoo, showing her pride in her with her tone of voice.

"Brilliant, we can probably find such a method or item by using the tribal village archives, then sending for it. Unfortunately, it would take some time to find it first in the archives, then send for it. Still, we can use it as a two-pronged assault; Ranma can quest for the 'water pot of liberation' while you search the archives for another method to cure him. At the least, even if unsuccessful, it gives you something to do as we simply can't afford to have you leave the Nekohanten until the week is up and we have enough help at the Nekohanten to keep it running in your absence. Where is that blasted Mousse anyway?"

They quickly ran into the Tendo residence, both Amazon women prepared to offer the best help they could to help the boy-turned-girl who would hopefully become one of them soon.

**Author's Note: **The Herb arc begins in earnest now. Now the battle to regain Ranma's manhood will take place on two fronts, one, back home in Nerima where a certain lavender-haired young Amazon desperately tries to find something that will cure her beloved; the other one in line for a direct confrontation with Herb.

Additionally, Genma and Soun's plans will soon be running into quite the snag indeed; Nodoka is aiming both to officialize Ranma's relationship with Shampoo and get him to treat all the engagements with a seriousness that has, thus far, been lacking on his part. For those that wonder, this is the beginning of the first 'Nodoka returns' story arc from book 21, although there will certainly be changes to it as there have been with other arcs in my story.

Last but not least, I noticed that, in my previous chapter, the dividers between the Point of view changes had vanished sometime between writing, betaing and posting. I have put them back in properly now.


	20. In Pursuit of Manhood

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 20**

**In Pursuit of Manhood**

_I must press on..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Thursday March 2, 1994**_

Ukyo smiled as she rushed over to the Tendo residence; she knew that Ranma had chosen to battle that awful Herb girl on her behalf and wanted to privately thank him, preferably with a steaming okonomiyaki. 'Also, after I feed him, maybe he will be too full for any 'romantic' dinners that Akane might plan for tonight!'

She privately mused as she looked up at the cloudless sky. 'Besides, I know how Ranchan avoids any forms of intimacy like dating or whatever like the plague, otherwise either Shampoo or I would have won his heart ages ago. Also, it's quite possible that Akane is either lying or, more likely, mistaken as to the nature of this 'date'. I'd better check with Ranchan about this first.'

As she entered the Tendo property, Ukyo noticed that Ryoga was sitting right next to the entrance to the Tendo dojo with an interested expression on his face, clearly eavesdropping. Rather than walk inside the dojo itself, she crouched behind Ryoga, who was clearly distracted by what he was listening to, and whispered to him, "So, what's up?"

She stifled a grin as the foolish boy jumped nearly a foot in the air from a sitting position, then whirled around and glared at her, saying, "Shh!"

Then Ryoga sighed and quietly whispered with a glare leveled straight at her and in a near snarl, "I'm listening in on them; apparently that Herb person splashed Ranma with some water that freezes your form permanently. Since Ranma was in girl form at the time..."

The box holding the okonomiyaki that Ukyo had been carrying dropped from nerveless fingers to the ground with a soft thump as Ukyo realized the implications. Suddenly the world seemed to be closing in around her. 'Ranma, man among men, my fiancé, is stuck in girl form, forever?'

This was far too big for her to deal with right then; she practically fell to the ground and stared over at the nearby wall. However, before she could really get to thinking about it, Ryoga continued with a voice that sounded somewhat relieved, even if it was well hidden, "Well, the old ghoul said that she knows of at least one way to cure it apparently, some water pot that Herb is going after apparently. Still…"

As Ryoga appeared to go deep in thought over this for a moment, Ukyo's heart leapt and she hopped to her feat, her mind filled with the determination of what she knew she had to do. 'If Ranchan needs help, I'm there! Plus, it looks like it might be just me, him, and this moron. I'd still be happy to go with him even if it wasn't necessary though. It would mean loads of time alone with Ranchan!' She then did a few quick calculations before smiling a little. 'Also, the Ucchan has made me enough money that I can definitely afford to close it down a few weeks. After all, I don't hire any waitresses or junk so I save a lot on labor costs.'

She then noticed that Ryoga had walked in and offered his help; definitely not wanting to be left out, Ukyo followed him inside and said, "Me too! I'm gonna come with you guys as well. Its the least I can do after all..."

The Tendo and Saotome patriarchs looked at each other a moment, glared at her, and then opened their mouths wide. Soon all hell broke loose.

* * *

Shampoo practically dragged Ranma to the side as the patriarchs started rowing with Spatula Girl, thoughts awhirl from Ukyo's announcement. 'I REALLY don't want him to spend any more time with Ranma than necessary; should I try to tell him not to bring her along?' While she thought it over, she decided to tell him about the search in the village archives she would be doing while he was away. She looked Ranma directly in his blue eyes and spoke calmly.

"Listen Airen. I won't be able to come along with you because Duck Boy has left us for some time and no-one knows where he went; plus we need me to waitress to keep the Nekohanten in business here. But just because I can't come, that doesn't mean that I won't be trying to help you; I think that there is a chance that we have an artifact or spell that can unlock your curse in our village. While you are away, I will be looking for it in the village archives."

As she was saying this, she considered the idea of Spatula Girl going with him very carefully indeed. 'Her going with Ranma as the only girl in that group would be a tremendous opportunity for her. Although I have made some progress lately, it would make it far easier for me if she didn't get any chances to catch up to or surpass me.'

However, another factor was brought to her attention. 'Herb really hammered Airen when he fought her; can Ranma beat her without Ukyo's help?' She considered the odds based on what she had heard about Ryoga's battle with Lime and what she had seen of Ukyo's fights with Mint. 'Ranma MIGHT be able to beat Herb, based on how well she typically does on rematches; but if Lime or Mint are thrown into the battle...her odds of winning are very remote to say the least. At the very least, Pig Boy and Spatula Girl could keep those two busy for a while, even if they were to lose.'

Shampoo then got a bright idea that would simultaneously help Ranma deal with Herb and help her a little bit too by showing her maturity. As Ranma prepared to respond to what she had just told him, Shampoo interrupted her.

"Thanks Sham..."

"I think you should bring Ukyo along with you."

Ranma blinked and looked at her carefully for nearly a minute, apparently wondering if she had been under some kind of spell. Shampoo didn't mind him staring until he held his head to her forehead and said, "Uh, Shampoo. Are you feeling OK? You WANT me to bring Ukyo along?"

Shampoo glared at him for questioning her intelligence a moment as she congratulated herself mentally. 'This way I both show Ranma that I trust him, even alone with Spatula, and that I care about his safety even more than the mar...engagement.'

She said however, in a low tone of voice while bending close to Ranma's ear, explained a little, "Herb is tough enough on her own, you don't need her having friends with her when you fight her. Ukyo can at least distract Mint, maybe even beat him. After all, she is probably as good of a fighter as Mousse, maybe even better."

She then continued in an even softer tone, nearly a whisper, trying to make her point clear, "I won't risk your life or safety for my jealousy; so go out, bringing Pig Boy and Spatula, and crush that Musk princess!"

Ranma smiled once again and thanked her; before going over to where the patriarchs and Ukyo were screaming at one another. As he did, Shampoo's only thought was, 'I REALLY hope that this won't backfire...'

* * *

"Ukyo Kuonji, you are not going! Go back to your restaurant and fry up some okonomiyaki for brain food if you want to help, but if any of my son's fiancées are going along, it will be Akane! NOT YOU!"

As Genma was roaring at Ukyo, his private thoughts were racing with dread. 'It would be bad enough if that Shampoo girl came along; she has no real official standing outside of her little, backwards village after all. However, if Ukyo goes and sinks her teeth into Ranma, she has an official engagement, complete with accepted dowry!'

As Soun opened his mouth, probably to object to the idea of endangering his baby girl, Genma saw Ranma finish her talk with Shampoo and said, before anyone could interrupt, in a reasonable tone of voice, "How about this, let's have Ranma decide; you'll agree to that, right Ukyo?"

After thinking it over a few seconds, Ukyo nodded her head in agreement as Genma smirked internally, then dragged Ranma over to them and whispered to her quietly, "Ranma my boy, tell Ukyo here that she can't come along and that she is to stay here."

Apparently she hadn't heard him clearly as Ranma looked Ukyo over for about a minute, Ukyo looking apprehensive as Genma grinned. 'She already said she would accept what Ranma said; once my son agrees with me, she will have no choice but to stay home!'

After her apparent appraisal, Ranma said calmly and clearly, with a small smile as she looked over at Ukyo, "If you want to come along Ucchan, I would be happy to bring you too..."

Soun, barely even pretending to listen, quickly said happily, "Yes Miss Kuonji, now you have no other choice but to..."

Genma and Soun looked at each other in shock as Ukyo, smiling brilliantly, thanked Ranma; then the screaming started again...

* * *

Ryoga considered removing his ears with one of his bandannas as the yelling reached new heights of volume; then he noticed that Akane had left the dojo and elected to follow her. It had to be much better than staying in the dojo, listening to Ranma, the idiot duo, and Ukyo arguing at near jet engine volumes. Cologne and Shampoo clearly had the same idea as the two of them quickly left as well, heading back to the Nekohanten most likely.

Ryoga then went into the Tendo house and found Akane in the kitchen, making what looked like lunches for three people. Noticing him, Akane, while continuing to make one of the lunches, something that looked like it might have once been a fish, smiled at him and said brightly, "Hey Ryoga, I just wanted to say that I am really proud of you for deciding to go off and help Ranma like this."

Even though he had stopped going into a near-fainting state when Akane was nice to him, thanks to the anger he had felt when he'd had to allow her to use him to make RANMA jealous, Ryoga still blushed red because it was still Akane, the beautiful girl he loved. He could still feel butterflies whenever she was nice to him.

Ryoga laughed a little nervously and looked away, then he decided to be honest because it was her and, after the 'P-chan incident', he had started to realize that he liked it better when she liked him for what he was rather than what he pretended to be. He turned and looked her in her eyes, before saying frankly, "Akane, I gotta admit, a real big part of why I am doing this is because I can cure myself of..." He looked around quickly then whispered to her, "...the P-chan thing with that pail that Herb carries around, at least if I am in human form."

To his surprise, Akane only smiled at him as she kept on with her cooking, then said softly, "I'm not surprised Ryoga, but I know that you are also doing this to help him because, even if he is your rival that you have sworn to defeat, the two of you are still friends, right?"

Not even sure himself about it, Ryoga decided to change the subject. "Akane, you wanted me to really start training you right? Well, I won't be able to do any training with you in person for at least a week or two, but I do have some ideas to help you stay busy while I'm gone..."

For the next twenty-odd minutes, while Akane kept cooking, Ryoga and her went over her normal training schedule with a fine-toothed comb. In the end, while she would continue strength training with a combination of breaking bricks and arm and leg weights, they altered the schedule to focus a lot more on speed and technique training via katas and some sprint and fast attack training.

As they finished going over her training schedule, Akane said warmly, "Ryoga, after you all get back, the day after, would you like to train with me again? Also, while we are at it, we should start helping you catch up in school again; you are probably pretty far behind after all."

Ryoga smiled lightly and agreed, causing Akane to beam at him. If he was still vulnerable to spontaneous fainting around her, he would have definitely fallen to the ground right then and there. As he wasn't so vulnerable anymore, he just went red and went over to the dojo as Akane gave him the three boxed lunches she had made.

As he entered the dojo again, he noticed something odd; while what was inside Ranma and Ukyo's boxes looked like bio-hazards, the contents of his box looked positively delicious. Wondering slightly, he went back into the dojo and waited.

* * *

"Hello, Mrs. Saotome. It's such a pleasant surprise to see you here today, I must say."

Nodoka jumped up, much to the apparent amusement of the Amazon matriarch and her great-granddaughter who just stood there chuckling at her. Frowning, Nodoka looked around and saw that she was sitting on one of the booths at the Nekohanten with both women laughing as they watched her.

Realizing how she must have looked, a grown woman curled up napping in a booth, Nodoka soon added her own cultured chuckles to the laughter. After a few minutes of that, Nodoka remembered the reasons that she had come here before visiting the Tendos and said, in a business-like tone, "Mrs. Cologne, I was hoping that you would be willing to help me with a little matter or two..."

After explaining to the aged woman and the young Amazon warrior about what she had heard of her husband's apparent disregard for the other engagements, to her great surprise as her husband was a very honorable man; for some reason both Cologne and Shampoo seemed to laugh at that, although they explained that it was merely a coughing fit. In the end, she got to her proposal to exchange the Amazon marriage for an official Japanese fiancéeship.

Cologne smiled at this, somewhat creepily given her aged visage, and Shampoo beamed at the idea; then Cologne said carefully, "Hmm, Mrs. Saotome, that would be quite acceptable to my grand-daughter and I, but are you sure that your husband would permit this?"

At this, Nodoka couldn't help but laugh at the idea of questioning her husband's honor. 'Such a manly man as my husband would surely have no issues with this proposal. When it comes to true honor, I am sure that he will know what to do.' Nonetheless, she said calmly, "If it would satisfy you, we can have the agreement take place here in the Nekohanten Sunday; if, for some strange reason, my husband would disagree, he can come here to object. I'll just let Soun know to tell him to come here then if he has any objections or wants to witness the event."

Cologne chuckled and said, for some reason in a sardonic tone of voice, "I suspect you won't have to worry about him coming to object to the agreement."

For the life of her, Nodoka couldn't understand why the two of them were laughing so hard...

* * *

Akane clenched her fist as she saw Ranma getting ready to go on her journey with Ryoga and the chef girl. She knew that Ranma would eventually manage to win if it came down to a fight, she always did when she got serious; but that wasn't what Akane was worried about. 'Knowing him, she'll probably try to take advantage of Ukyo in a matter of days, girl form or no.' Then that really annoying inner voice spoke up with an audible smirk, 'One, if its consensual, I doubt it could be called 'Ranma taking advantage of Ukyo', two, the real reason you are angry is because she hasn't tried to take advantage of YOU!'

Mentally hitting the accursed voice on the head with her Ranma-mallet, Akane walked up to Ranma and said, "Hey..."

Ranma gave a slight smile to her and said softly, "I guess we will have to postpone that...thingie, won't we?"

Akane patted her on the arm and turned her face to avoid letting her see her blush, then said quietly, "Yeah, but let's make sure we do it the same day that you get back. Okay?"

When Ranma agreed, Akane quietly asked, "Do you regret fighting Herb? I mean, if Ukyo hadn't attacked her, then you wouldn't have had this happen to you. You shouldn't have fought her, it wasn't your fight."

Ranma looked a little annoyed, then replied with a small glare at her and in a somewhat angry tone of voice, "I woulda done it even if I knew that she would've beaten me; she shouldn't have interfered in Ucchan's fight like that!"

Akane hung her head a little as she supposed she deserved that; then she said quietly, "Sorry. Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while. Now, don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

As the three martial artists left in search of the 'water pot of liberation', Akane frowned as she heard from her little voice, 'That's not the problem, the problem is that your are afraid of him doing what you WOULD do...'

**Author's Note: **What a turn of events, Ukyo is going with Ranma and Ryoga instead of Mousse. Will that lead to any changes?

Some of you may wonder how I consider Ukyo to be the equal of or better than Mousse. My reasoning is that, up until volume 22, there hasn't been any major training on Mousse's part shown. As such, given that Ukyo is fighting all the time with challengers of about her level (Shampoo and Kodachi), and Mousse is fighting with someone NOT of his level (Ranma), plus the fact that they seem to have had similar levels of skill and power when they both arrived, it seems reasonable that, overall, Ukyo would be stronger; although I do suspect that while Ukyo is probably stronger and likely has more endurance, Mousse is most likely faster than her.

As for those of you who are shocked that all of the fiancées are being so reasonable about Ukyo going along with Ranma, its because they have basically decided on a cease-fire on account of the current situation. None of them have said it aloud, but currently, the fiancée wars are on hold until Ranma gets back his body, although there may be some maneuvering nonetheless. They are worried, and they should be, about Herb and his attendants; without someone of Mousse's power or higher there, Mint would likely cause Herb's battle with Ranma to be a nearly impossible battle to win. Another factor is that, without unlocking the curse, the only possible winner to the wars is actually Ukyo, because she can legally get married to Ranma as she is legally a man.

As you can probably guess, Nodoka probably doesn't have the authority to make the agreement with Cologne without either Genma's okay or acquiescence, but if she sets it up so that Genma to object to it, it SHOULD stand (Although I admit that Japanese law is definitely not my forte).

Mousse won't be arriving the next chapter, but rather the chapter after that one. Just FYI for those who are wondering.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be posting any new chapters until after the new year as my beta and I are both going on vacations for the Christmas holiday. However, I do have chapters 21 and 22 written up offline; if I receive enough reviews, I might post them both simultaneously as a reward=).

I: Thank you very much, I intend to.

mrbignerd: thank you, I can't say much, but I hope you enjoy the coming arcs as well.

The Gandhara: Thank you very much; however, while they may be on even ground in our eyes, the question will be who is better in Ranma's eyes, don't forget. I can't comment about whether Akane has redeemed herself more or less than the other choices sadly. I refuse to give my opinion heh.

As far as why she is admitting her feelings for Ranma, even if not to Ranma, more than in the original series, it is a combination of both factors. The confidence from removing one of her main sources of insecurity is a major factor, but so is the fact that, subconsciously, she recognizes that the Nerima dynamic is definitely changing. The way things were was quite comfortable for Akane, but, according to her perspective, the other fiancées have found ways for them to be with Ranma without him wanting to run for the hills for fear of righteous punishment or hurting Akane; something that Akane DEFINITELY doesn't like. As such, she is trying to make it somewhat clear that she might have some feelings for him.


	21. Faith, Acceptance and Determination

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 21**

**Faith, Acceptance and Determination**

_A dose of reality to temper one's dreams..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day Friday March 3, 1994**_

Akane frowned as she laid on her bed, trying to study her notes from class; although she kept a cheery face up, she was worried about Ranma, something she would never admit aloud if she could help it. While he was very tough, a great fighter and never lost, she knew that Herb was also a truly great fighter and had clearly overwhelmed him in their battle; in addition, Ranma only needed to lose once more against a foe like the Musk Princess and she might...

'Not only is Herb strong, but she is clearly quite vindictive- she splashed Ranma with that curse-locking water for only causing her to flash us on accident; I mean, no one I know is that childish about accidents. If Ranma lost to her again, she might...kill her for no good reason.'

Akane shivered at that possibility as she heard the coughing coming from her sister's room continue. 'I hope Kasumi gets better soon; she doesn't deserve things like this to happen to her.' As Akane listened to her older sister's battle with her illness, she thought that there was at least one silver lining to Kasumi's situation.

'At least this illness might give her an excuse to see Doctor Tofu again; maybe this time he will get somewhere with her.' As she smiled slightly at the image of the doctor and her sister getting together, she turned her thoughts back to her currently female fiancé. 'Even though he might be outmatched, I won't shame him by doubting his abilities. He has won against great odds before and HE will survive this situation to win against them again. I will choose to have faith in him and his abilities; no matter what the odds against him I won't consider the possibility of his defeat!'

Akane then decided to get off that topic before she got depressed and move her thoughts to happier ones. 'I do hope that those three liked the lunches I made them; they will keep for several days and I am sure that I got the flavors right this time! I especially hope that Ranma and Ryoga will like the ones they received!'

Realizing that she wasn't even looking at her notes anymore, Akane decided to go check up on her sister. Hearing her ask who would make dinner if she was sick, Akane quickly volunteered and said in a kind voice, "No, No! Don't strain yourself! I'll be happy to cook!"

Apparently, they still didn't trust her skills in the kitchen as her dad had to persuade Kasumi to rest and get back into bed by saying that they would get takeout instead, Nabiki had already left to go to a friend's house before their Dad had managed to persuade the oldest Tendo sister. Suddenly, all of them heard the sound of Shampoo yelling up to them, "We're coming in! Nodoka and I!"

As Genma all but flew in an attempt to reach cold water before Nodoka caught him, Akane and the rest of the Tendos went to greet the pair. 'Argh! I have this really eerie feeling that something bad is about to happen here, and Ranma is not here to deal with it...'

* * *

Ryoga was troubled; as he did a long set of advanced katas, all of which he had mastered some time ago, he was trying to figure out why exactly he had agreed to come on this adventure with Ranma. 'I mean, its obvious why I SHOULD be going: to get the pail and use it to "cure" my dumb curse, but why then am I also spending much of my time thinking of ways to unlock Ranma's curse rather than get the pail of preservation?'

As he brooded over this, he watched his two traveling companions' sparring session. Sighing, he thought, 'At least those two know why they are here, Ranma because she needs her curse unlocked, and Ukyo because it gives her a way to help and be with her "Ranchan". Me, I'm still not sure why the hell I came along.'

With nothing better to do, Ryoga just kept watching the two of them as he ran through his exercises; since he had stopped hiking so much, he had found lately that he had more time for actual training, although, admittedly, his tough hiking life had been a big help as well. As he watched, he periodically snorted at the antics of one combatant or the other. Ranma was making use of her large speed advantage to block or dodge almost every attack the chef was throwing at her, but Ryoga could see her moves becoming cleaner and more efficient as time went on, a necessity if one wanted to keep up with someone as fast as Ranma.

As the two teens battled, they bantered insults back and forth, sometimes causing Ryoga to laugh.

"So Ucchan, how's the arthritis going?"

"Its going quite well actually, any 'cramps' lately Ranchan?"

"No signs of me acting like Ryoga, so I guess not. Say...have you been going to turtles for speed advice? Because it definitely shows!"

"Yep! And Ranchan, they were still faster than you, and in much better shape too!"

"Ooh, right in the heart! Oh well, at least I am still better built than you are Ucchan!"

At Ranma's remark, Ryoga winced; from what he had heard of Ukyo, that definitely wouldn't go over well with her, but she actually seemed to take it in stride as she replied with a smirk, "Yup, you sure are! I'll bet you get all the cute BOYS, like that nice Mikado Sanzenin I heard tales of!"

As Ranma's face went green, probably at the memory of her first kiss with that despicable womanizer, Ukyo got her over the head with her battle spatula, smirking as she did so.

Ranma, regathering herself, replied with an evil smile towards the okonomiyaki chef, "Heh-heh-heh. Ucchan. I hope you know...THIS MEANS WAR!"

As the brawl continued with a fury, Ryoga decided to postpone deciding on his reasons for this blasted adventure until later; he would cross that particular bridge when he came to it.

* * *

Shampoo smiled happily as Nodoka was busy talking to the Tendo family; unfortunately for them, the Tendo family had discovered quite quickly that, with Kasumi sick, the housework was definitely taking a hit. Nodoka, being as kind as she usually was, at least when not dealing with certain Seppuku contracts, said with a smile in response to their admittance that they were on the rocks, "Then...if its alright with you...may I make dinner tonight?"

The majority of the Tendos beamed until she continued, still smiling, "I'm sure that Akane wouldn't mind helping me, Shampoo too!"

Shampoo giggled at the looks on their faces; clearly they were afraid of both Akane's cooking and whatever magic that they thought she might use on them by way of the meal. She decided to tease them a little and flashed a wicked grin while Nodoka was looking away, causing all of them to gulp nervously. Nodoka then said cheerily, "If it's alright, I would love to teach your daughter Akane to cook properly."

Looking at Nodoka and Shampoo with some suspicion, Akane said, somewhat doubtfully, "Really?"

In response to Nodoka's offer, Soun, in tears, said, "Can you...Can you really cure Akane?"

In response to this, Shampoo thought to herself, 'I truly believe that would take a magic artifact to do so...her cooking is clearly a curse laid down upon her family.'

However, Nodoka, with the surety that came from not knowing what exactly she was up against, replied easily, "I'll make a fine cook out of her."

After about twenty minutes, Shampoo was beginning to think that executing the 'kiss of death' upon the youngest Tendo girl might be a mercy, saving the lives of the entire Tendo family from an eventual death via food poisoning. Akane, in her usual manic frenzy that she claimed was cooking, had already mixed chunks of the cutting board in with the carrot chunks and incinerated one of the main dishes by mistaking vegetable oil for white wine...somehow.

Shampoo was getting ready to break out her chui and chase Kitchen Destroyer out from her area of mischief, when she thought of an idea. While it was likely that Ranma hadn't told Genma about the soap, which would be pretty stupid as it would have been gone within the week given Genma's tendencies, it was quite possible that he would have told Akane of the soap. As such, it would probably be best if she kept Nodoka's conversation with Soun about the new engagement as private as possible. Neither of the idiot duo were likely to mention Shampoo's new engagement to Ranma until it was too late for fear of Akane using it as an excuse to break up with the 'boy' again; as such, if Akane didn't overhear the conversation, it was likely that they wouldn't mention it to Akane until it was far too late for the panda and his crying sidekick to do anything about it.

Smiling as her idea turned into a plan inside of her clever mind, Shampoo realized that most of the dishes for the meal were already completed and whispered to Nodoka, "If you want to have a nice, private conversation with Mr. Tendo, now would be a good time; let Akane and I finish off the last few dishes, we'll be fine."

As Nodoka smiled, nodded and left, Shampoo looked over at the deservedly maligned Kitchen Destroyer and said, "If you still think that you are a 'real cook', how about a taste match between the two of us?"

* * *

Ukyo sat quietly by the campfire where they had decided to camp, a short distance from a surprisingly nearby hotel, thinking to herself. 'Soon we will probably have to fight Herb, Lime and HIM again; what will happen if we are defeated? What would we do if we can never unlock Ranma's curse again? I love Ranchan dearly, but what if he is stuck as a she for the remainder of his life?'

Staring into the fire, she though to herself, 'I know for a fact that I love him now, but would I be able to keep loving him romantically if he was stuck as a she for the rest of our lives? He deserves to be able to know whether or not he can count on me for that; what if I was unable to keep loving him like that and we were unable to unlock his curse?'

As the flames of their campfire burned down slowly, she drew upon her memories, hoping to find the answer to her question.

_Flashback Eleven Years Ago:_

_"Hey Ranchan, why don't you ever play with the other kids? Why always just with me?"_

_A young Ukyo and Ranma were eating okonomiyaki after 'battling' again. Ranma of course, had been the winner for the umpteenth time. Ukyo was wondering because she knew that none of the other boys or girls liked her because she was too much of a tomboy, as such she wondered why Ranma wasn't like them and instead wanted to spend time with her. _

_In response to her question however, the young Ranma paused scarfing down his okonomiyaki and said fiercely, "I don't wanna play with them because they told me that playing with you wasn't cool; I won't play with anyone who won't play with my best friend. No way!"_

_Ukyo's young heart glowed in warmth at his fierce defense of her. 'He's so nice! I want to be best friends with MY Ranchan forever!"_

_End Flashback_

Ukyo smiled a little as she recalled the moment she had started to fall in love with Ranma, a love that had apparently lasted even through ten years of wanting him dead. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure that proved anything on its own; she then continued browsing through her memories.

_Flashback One Year Ago:_

_"Darn it!"_

_Ukyo ran to the shower attached to the hotel she had been staying at, hoping to find Ranma and exact her vengeance upon him and his father. She had just woken up from a dream where she and Rancha...her quarry had met up again. She had defeated Genma handily, for some reason only knocking him unconscious when she really wanted to do nothing less than kill him, but when she fought Rancha...her quarry, she had lost, only for him to give some stupid excuse that she could no longer remember and tell her that he really loved her._

_After that, rather than claiming the vengeance from her best frie...hated enemy that she wanted above all else, she had...demonstrated to him the OTHER reason one marries a Kuonji and, to her absolute mortification, she had woken up sweaty and sticky...yet again. Snarling in her fury, she berated herself, "If I have to have these blasted dreams, why can't they be about some movie star, an actor, or even another woman! I hate him! I hate him! I hate him! I have no feelings for the jerk other than pure, unadulterated hatred!"_

_As she ranted at herself, sounding unconvincing even to her ears, the dream-her just laughed in her mind merrily, yet mockingly, seeming to say, 'You don't even believe that yourself...'_

_End Flashback:_

Ukyo blushed at that particular memory, even when she had 'hated him more than anything in the world', she hadn't been able to stop herself from wanting to be with the same person who had first made the cruelty of the other children seem meaningless in his presence; the dreams had just changed as her hormones kicked in and she entered puberty. She was becoming reasonably sure in her decision, but she still wanted to be certain, so her mind went over to one more memory.

_Flashback When Ukyo First Learned About Ranma's Curse:_

_As she poured hot then cold water over her beloved Ranchan, Ukyo was lost in thought. 'Ooh, this is so much fun! Hot boy I love! Hot girl I love! Hot boy I love! Hot girl I love! So many possibilities! When I marry him, I marry the boy I love more than anything, get to live my dream where I cook him an okonomiyaki while watching him practice his martial arts skills, not that I will neglect my own, and I get could experiment whenever I want to with just me and Ranchan! Wait a minute...BAD THOUGHTS UKYO!'_

_Ukyo then responded mentally, scolding herself. 'The marriage is about more than whether you want to start your honeymoon as soon as you meet him! It's about love and affection and the sharing of troubles and dreams...Wait, that's not a problem, I want to do that anyway with him. Its just that, in addition to being the same person I fell in love with, he's really cute now!'_

_Realizing that it probably wasn't the best time to be dwelling on these thoughts, Ukyo ordered herself, 'OK Ukyo...let's save those thoughts for private time, lest you give yourself a nosebleed in front of your_ _long-lost fiancé...'_

_End Flashback_

Ukyo smiled as she came to her final decision. 'It doesn't matter to me, even if Ranchan never becomes a man again, I still want to be as close as I can possibly get to him and spend the rest of my life with him.' She then chuckled a little as another thought came to mind. 'Ironically, it would probably be easier to marry him now because I am legally a boy! After I get home, I am going to give dad a kiss on the cheek for making me live my life as a boy for ten years...maybe not, but I will still thank him if that turns out to be helpful.'

After a short laugh at the irony, she continued her train of thought. 'No matter what happens, I will choose to accept Ranma, flaws, female form or whatever, and keep on trying to make him mine as much as I am his!'

Finishing making her choice, she realized that the hotel had an outdoor hot springs and yelled back to Ranma and Ryoga, who were tussling again for whatever reason, "Hey boys! Whadaya say we stop in that hotel over there, the hotel Inozuru! We have the money, and its got nice beds and a hot springs! Besides, in all honesty, YOU STINK!"

As the two others shouted at one another, arguing about whether or not it was worth their time, Ukyo started packing up the campsite, taking the decision out of their hands, it was her money she planned on using to pay for them after all...

* * *

As she finished off the rest of the meal while cooking up another dish for her taste match with Akane, not that it was needed given that she could probably just take a raw egg and beat the Tendo girl in taste, Shampoo, free from any important distraction, started thinking about Ranma's new problem.

'What will I do if Ranma fails to defeat Herb and get his curse unlocked? Amazon law doesn't allow two women to marry! Nor does Japanese law! What will I do!?' Shampoo realized that she was starting to let her emotions get the best of her, just like she did when Ranma pretended that he was really a woman when she first realized that both Ranmas were the same, so she took a deep breath, then whispered to herself, "Shampoo, Focus! You are an Amazon Champion! You do not give up on something really important to you, EVER!"

Following the instructions she gave herself, Shampoo carefully focused. 'OK, Ranma, although probably outmatched, unless he is killed during one of the battles, only has to defeat that Musk princess once in order to reclaim his manhood; moreover, if he makes it to the 'water pot of liberation first, he won't even have to fight her to get his curse unlocked!'

With that particular doubt assuaged, at least partially, she then focused on what she could do in Nerima and frowned. 'OK, first of all, I have to make sure that I check the Joketsuzoku archives as carefully as I can; I did a light foray into them last night, but there are probably more ways than just the one I heard about in that tale to cure his condition and I MUST find them. It is my duty as his wife...err fiancée.'

Blazing with a bright battle aura and fierce determination, Shampoo decided, 'No matter what it takes, I will find a way for him to regain his manhood because I love him! I choose to follow the path of determination, just as I did when I came back from China! Just like the path to become his wife, I will keep on it until I either succeed or it is proven to be completely impossible!'

As she was deciding this, Akane, in order to boil the eggs for a dish, had put them in the microwave. The resulting explosion sent the door to the microwave crash right into Shampoo's head; her last thoughts before going unconscious were, 'I am beginning to really hate that girl...'

**Author's note: **In case it isn't obvious, Ryoga isn't questioning whether he should be on the quest with Ranma and Ukyo; he's questioning the reason why. The reason it is so different from how he acted during this arc in canon is actually pretty simple: in canon, the Herb arc took place almost right after the Fishing Rod of Love arc, if that didn't make him want to throttle Ranma (Although it was Ryoga's fault in that arc), nothing would. In this version, the Fishing Rod of Love arc hasn't quite arrived yet, meaning that Ryoga would probably be suffering from some indecision whether or not to focus on helping his rival, or to focus on getting the 'pail of preservation'.

As for the contents of Ukyo's flashbacks, it's not so much that she is bisexual, although she might be curious, as she is Ranmasexual. As she has gotten used to treating both forms of Ranma as Ranma, I suspect that would cause any attraction she has for his male form to bleed over to his female form as well (It is probably the same with Akane and Shampoo, although obviously not Kodachi as she doesn't know about the curse). Mind you, she still probably would prefer him as a guy, but she still loves him enough to marry him even if he is stuck in female form.

All three of the girls are making choices about how to react to Ranma's curse being locked: Akane has chosen to have faith in his ability to undo it, Ukyo has chosen to accept that they might never undo it and Shampoo has chosen to be determined and find a way to cure him and help him find one by any means necessary.

Remember, Shampoo's opinion of Akane is quite biased, she is actually beginning to consider Akane as an active threat to Ranma, clearly this would cause her to dislike her even more than before.

Gangsta Spanksta: Thank you for letting me know, I was unsure on semi-colon usage and will probably go back to chapter 20 and edit it to remove the errors sooner or later. I can't say that I have figured them out yet, but I hope that this chapter is free of that sort of error.

James Birdsong: Your welcome is welcome=). Word of warning, if you say something like 'Your welcome that welcomed my welcome is welcome', then I will reserve the right not to respond, as much as I would normally prefer to do so.

DiMeraslover(Chapter 19): It may not be physical pain, but after Happosai, I think that, short of making him one with her katana, there is little Nodoka can do to hurt him physically that would be worse than what Happosai probably did. As such, hitting them in the engagements is probably the most painful thing that Genma or Soun could possibly imagine.

Agreed, the Musk, or at least Herb, are quite ruthless in pursuit of their goals. Yeah, just like canon, Ranma let his temper get away from him, but similar to canon, he had quite the provocation, even if it was different.

I find it difficult to understand what you meant in this line, but Akane, thinking that Ranma was only beaten up, was still primarily focused on the fiancée wars and afraid of revealing her feelings to her rivals, or anyone for that matter. Nodoka will be watching, but not too often; similar to canon, she won't be around all of the time. As for Nodoka still loving Ranma as a girl, I can guarantee you that, barring the threat of death, Ranma will never, ever let Nodoka know he is currently locked in girl-form. He's too worried about the curse as is, there is no way he would want to tell her that her 'man among men' has become a girl full-time; as such, I can guarantee that there will be no dating of Kuno on the part of Ranma in the near future.

Thank you very much again=).

DiMeraslover(Chapter 20): Yes, they (Akane and Shampoo) are both being rather adultlike about the idea of Ukyo going with Ranma and Ryoga, although partially its because Happosai, Genma, and Soun don't want to go, Cologne and Shampoo can't go, and Akane, even with the bit of training she did with Ryoga last week, would be no more than collateral damage against any of the three Musk warriors, and they both know that those three are more than a match for Ranma and Ryoga on their own.

I strongly believe that about 90% of Ranma 1/2 readers believe that the world would be better off if those two took a long walk off of a short pier. That is probably Ryoga's style, but he will be letting her know how she feels eventually, and far before the end. Even if he is to lose or end up with someone else, he will be happy with the knowledge that he fought for her as best as he can, and if he should win her, he will know that he made the right choice regardless. (I have a significant dislike for the fact that Ranma never was able to do either of the big reveals to Akane in canon; he deserves better than to lose without a fight).


	22. Of Love and Fishing Rods

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 22**

**Of Love and Fishing Rods...**

_I want to be desired..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day Friday March 3, 1994**_

Mousse smiled as he slipped through the open window into one of the Tendo bedrooms; he had heard as he had eavesdropped downstairs that Shampoo had been knocked unconscious by a flying door...somehow, and had been brought upstairs to rest until she was feeling better.

'Sorry Shampoo, but if I don't do this quickly, then you might end up married to that beast Saotome before you have had enough time to discover the feelings for me that I know you have and which you have been forced to hide from yourself."*. I will just use this on you until the old ghoul gives up on her crazy schemes for you to marry HIM.'

Tiptoeing carefully over to the bed, relying on his very well developed sense of hearing to tell him that she was indeed sleeping, Mousse crept up to a point where he was right next to the girl sleeping on the bed. Right as he was about to use it, he paused, searching for any doubt in his mind about using the 'fishing rod of love' on Shampoo; finding none, as it was necessary, he cast the rod at point blank range. As she was asleep, there was no way she could dodge and he was could tell that he had hit her from the sudden small jump that she did.

After he unstuck it from her chest as per the directions, Mousse left through the window as he heard her waking up with a coughing fit. 'I hope you feel better soon my love. I will wait until tomorrow to see you and thus give the magic of the fishing rod time to take effect...'

* * *

Once her conversation with Soun was done and Shampoo had woken up, the two women quickly left the Tendo residence, Shampoo for the Nekohanten and Nodoka for her home. After the two said their farewells and split up, Nodoka continued towards her house at a slow, stately pace, fit for the matriarch of the Saotome clan. As she walked, Nodoka started to think about what she had heard and what she had learned from it that day.

_Flashback Earlier that day:_

_Nodoka smiled lightly at Mr. Tendo; she didn't really know him very well, but her husband had always vouched for him as a good, honest man, regardless of what he had had to do while on their training journeys with their old master. As such, she decided to tell him her plans honestly and forthrightly. After all, a man who her husband trusted couldn't be that bad, could he? She spoke to him calmly and with poise, "Mr. Tendo..."_

_"Soun, if you would please; we will be in-laws soon after all. It would probably be best to get used to it..."_

_Although she wasn't particularly sure about that, she decided to acquiesce. "Soun..."_

_Before she could get to the gist of what she wanted to say, he had interrupted her again, "Not to be rude, but I suspect I know why you have come, so let us get straight to the point. You likely wish to discuss with me about the situation with your son and all of the claims on him, correct?"_

_Although annoyed at the interruption, Nodoka was pleased at how amiable he was being about the situation; after all, few men would be pleased with their daughter's suitor being pledged to multiple other girls. As such, she nodded and waited for him to continue; he did so immediately, "I know that you must not be thrilled with the situation, given how there are so many girls are trying to win him, but I think that I have a plan to deal with it in a way that keeps the sacred promise between the Tendo clan and the Saotome clan unharmed."_

_While she was sure that his plan was likely a good one, Nodoka was worried that he hadn't factored in the possible harm to the other parties and spoke before he could continue. "I do as well Mr. Tendo; I have been apprised of the situation, and believe that I have come up with a solution that will enable your clan, my clan, as well as the other parties to get through the situation with our honor intact. Now then, if you would, could you please have Genma come over to the Nekohanten early Sunday morning if he gets back from his training trip in time; Cologne and I have agreed to dissolve the Amazon marriage between Ranma and Shampoo in return for an official Japanese engagement and, while it isn't necessary as my husband gave me clan leadership powers after the Kuonji incident occurred, it would be nice if he were there to witness their engagement."_

_Mr. Tendo seemed to be acting like a fish out of water, perhaps he hadn't considered the possibility of exchanging the marriage for an engagement; nonetheless, Nodoka continued, "Also, it has come to my attention that my husband has been encouraging the Saotome-Tendo engagement at the expense of the other ones. While it may just be because of the perspectives of the other, rival claimants, it would not do for him to continue doing so. Although you may be biased, I know that you are quite honorable from what my husband tells of you; could you please tell him to try and remain impartial about the engagement mess please Soun? If my son doesn't seriously consider all of the engagements, there could be ill consequences."_

_The man stared at her for nearly a minute, then burst into tears and started shouting at the top of his lungs..._

_End Flashback:_

Nodoka had been quite disappointed at Soun's reaction to her proposal, even if she understood it. 'Apparently, Genma has quite overrated the sense of honor of his old friend as the man is clearly a hypocrite, talking about the Tendo clan honor, but ignoring the honor of the other claimants. I am sure he would be quite disappointed in Soun.

Although the conversation had been quite unpleasant, in the end, through his shouting about it being necessary to join the two schools and how it was Genma's dream too, she had managed to get him to tell Genma to go to the Nekohanten Sunday morning if he was back from his trip in time so that he could witness the new fiancéeship.

After her abysmal conversation with Mr. Tendo, she had learned something that she hadn't known before about the Tendo girl as well; luckily, unlike with the girl's father, it was something that she was happy to learn.

_Flashback after Shampoo was hit on the head with the microwave door:_

_Akane was sitting, crouched by the refrigerator, bawling her eyes out. Clearly suffering, she screamed, "I'M SO SORRY!"_

_Feeling sorry for the teenage girl, Nodoka walked over to her saying words of comfort and rubbing circles on her back; then Akane said sorrowfully, "I...P-promise...I'll never cook again..."_

_Nodoka, looking at this tearful girl wiping her eyes on her sleeves, suddenly understood why she was trying so hard to master the art of cooking, even though she clearly had no talent for it. While lifting the girl's chin up so she could look her in the eyes, she quietly said, "Don't make that promise. I know you will eventually succeed and become a great cook, because to learn to cook for the one you love...you will stop at nothing, right?"_

_Even though the girl said nothing, Nodoka could tell by the look in her eyes and on her face that she was right in her guess._

_End Flashback:_

'Maybe our first encounter was just a case of a bad first impression after all. After thinking it over, I suppose that I will accept Akane if Ranma ends up choosing her to be his wife, after doing his duty as a honorable man to the other fiancées of course...'

* * *

Shampoo sighed; she knew that searching through the tribal archives was crucial to helping Ranma unlock his curse, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed searching through... she glanced at the cover of the book she was holding...Joketsuzoku Archives volume 12 of 596. She especially didn't enjoy the fact that each volume consisted of either a truly massive scroll or a book that was probably a few hundred pages long.

'Sometimes I wonder if they recorded history solely to torment those doomed to read it...Ugh, focus Shampoo! This is for airen!' As she continued to read the book, while still being careful in her searching, her thoughts did wander a little. 'I hope Ranma is alright; from what I have read so far, the Musk became a clan of warriors rather than martial artists at some point in their history. As such, if he should lose, rather than leaving him unconscious, they might kill him.'

Wanting to think about something happier, Shampoo then considered how her talk with Nodoka Saotome had gone the night before.

_Flashback Yesterday Evening:_

_Shampoo and Nodoka were sitting in Shampoo's room, conversing happily about Ranma, especially his favorite foods, and the martial arts a bit as, even though she wasn't particularly good at them herself, Nodoka liked talking about them because, according to her, it made her feel closer to her husband and son. Although she was having a great time, Shampoo knew that she had to get back to her work and said, "I apologize Nodoka, but I really have to get back to my research."_

_As she started getting up, Nodoka frowned a moment, then said, "Before you go, we need to discuss something important: your feelings for my son."_

_Shampoo immediately stopped and sat back down, then put her face in a neutral expression to hide her anxiety before saying, guardedly, "What do you mean, Nodoka?"_

_As Shampoo watched nervously, Nodoka looked her over carefully before saying quietly, "I have read your Amazon law books about the 'kiss of marriage'; they say that you are obligated to give them out to any that should defeat you, correct?"_

_Shampoo swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, before nodding and saying, "Yes..."_

_Nodoka then leaned forward and asked her, in a volume just above a whisper, "My question then is, do you really, truly love my son, or are you trying to marry him simply because of Amazon law?"_

_Shampoo looked her right in the eye, then said, in a tone of complete surety, "Nodoka, when I first met your son, I honestly only liked him because he was cute and, like me, had an interest in the martial arts, but that has changed as time has passed. Shortly after we met, in one of my worse moments, I attacked one of his fiancées, Akane, because I had put a 'kiss of death' on her."_

_Nodoka looked at her, attention and focus complete, as Shampoo continued, being careful neither to lie, nor to tell her about Ranma's curse, "In order to protect Akane, he was willing to die, not out of love so much I think, but more because he felt that it was his responsibility and the right thing to do. I couldn't kill him, so I returned to China in tears, misunderstanding what he had meant by his actions. After my great-grandmother explained things to me, we returned to Japan, trying to win him again. Upon their first encounter, my great-grandmother gave him a challenge, unless he could obtain this magic item from him using a certain technique, he would have had to eventually marry me." _

_Shampoo drew a breath as Nodoka gasped slightly, then continued, "Somehow though, even though it was required by Amazon tribal law, I didn't want him to marry him only because he was forced to by that challenge, and so I helped him succeed in his challenge, even though it hurt my chances of winning him. I think that is when I can honestly say that I fell in love with him. I still don't know for sure how he feels about me, or anyone for that matter, as he tries to hide all of his romantic feelings for anyone for fear of punishment or a forced marriage, but I hope that he will fall in love with me as I have fallen for him."_

_Nodoka smiled and said, "While I am not sure that I understand how your culture does things and why, it is clear that you are a good person, love my son and would marry him in an instant if you could; as such, I will be happy to accept you as one of his fiancées and will do all in my power to make sure that he gives you a fair shot, as I will with the others."_

_Shampoo couldn't help but smile..._

_End Flashback:_

Shampoo smiled as she considered that memory; unfortunately, she had begun to lose her focus. As such, she got back to her reading quickly while thinking, 'I guess this will be another all-nighter; just like last night. Ugh, I hope I get more than four hours of sleep this time...'

_**

* * *

**_

One Day Later Saturday March 4, 1994

Ukyo woke up from the sound of the door to their room closing; glancing around the room, she noticed that, while Ryoga was still in bed, Ranma wasn't. Curious about why she had left, Ukyo went out the door and followed the sound of Ranma's quiet footsteps. Ukyo saw her enter the changing area for the hot springs and, after thinking a moment, followed after her. Ranma had apparently stripped off her clothes and was standing naked in front of a full length mirror, just staring at her reflection.

Apparently, Ranma had sensed her somehow, as she said, in a voice filled with false cheer that was clearly masking something sadness or some other emotion, "So Ucchan, its good to see you t three in the morning. I guess you wanted to use the hot springs too, eh?"

Not knowing what, if anything, to say, Ukyo just walked over to her now female fiancé and drew her into a hug. Remembering that Ranma never, ever cried, and hated talking about her problems, Ukyo said nothing and just held her and patted her gently on the back. After several minutes of this, Ranma spoke up again in the same, falsely cheery tone as before, "You know, if you think about it, this really makes my life a lot easier."

Apparently, Ukyo's confusion was visible on her face when she looked at Ranma, as she then said, in a bitter tone of voice this time, "Think about it. I don't have to worry about my mom tryin' to kill me, as she would never guess that it's me. I don't have to worry about you girls tryin' to marry me, seein' as I am a girl now, and I don't gotta worry about Mousse an' Ryoga because I don't gotta worry about you girls. If it weren't for the fact that I'm stuck as a girl now, I'd be set!"

Looking at the top of Ranma's head, Ukyo spoke loudly, almost shouting, "That's not funny...!"

"Wasn't tryin' to be..."

"...Nor is it true!"

"...Funny...Huh?"

Ukyo lifted her fiancée's head up so she was looking her directly in the eyes and said slowly and clearly, "It's...not...true. I dunno about the others, but I don't care if you are stuck in girl-form, even if it lasts the rest of your life! I admit that I prefer your guy-form, but even if you'll never turn back; I! Will! Still! Love! You!"

To emphasize what she meant, she kissed him on the lips, trying to force everything she felt for him into it, all of her hopes, dreams, memories, and love. The kiss lasted for only a few seconds, but, while he didn't respond to it, he hadn't fought it either.

Feeling she had made her point, and completely red as that had been her first kiss, Ukyo left the changing area. As she left, she heard Ranma say softly, "T-thanks...Ucchan..."

* * *

Kasumi smiled as she woke up and got ready for the day. She usually enjoyed doing the housework as it made her feel crucial to the household; after all, she was the one who kept everything running, martial artist challengers or not. After taking care of her personal routine, Kasumi, in a short period of time, no more than an hour or two, did the laundry, fixed breakfast and cleaned the kitchen from the aftereffects of her sister's attempts at cooking last night. She certainly felt much better after the good night's sleep she had gotten and felt that she had just about beaten that cold.

As she worked, she pondered the situation they were in. 'I wonder how Ranma, Ryoga and Ukyo are doing, I hope that they will be okay...' As the rest of the Tendo family plus Genma ate their breakfast, she let her thoughts wander a little. 'That Herb girl certainly didn't sound very nice; it was quite rude of her to curse Ranma like that.'

As she got to her own breakfast, she was reminded of something else she had been thinking ever since yesterday. 'That Shampoo is being quite nice with how she is trying to help Ranma; nonetheless, her behavior towards that nice Mousse boy is quite mean. Oh well, it certainly makes it easier for me to win him...' She carefully controlled how she was acting; it just wouldn't do for a lady to drool, even though Mousse was VERY attractive in that slightly geeky way of his with his glasses, and even more so when he had taken them off.

As her family finished eating and left, Kasumi found it somewhat difficult to stop herself from scratching a particularly itchy bruise she had received, located just over her right breast...

**Author's Note: **First of all, Shampoo, in her confession to Nodoka, doesn't remember the incident with the memory erasing shampoo that preceded Ranma's big reveal, she just knows that something important lead up to that. It's a side effect of the wish in Chapter 2 after all.

Secondly, for those of you wonder why Ukyo, Ranma and Ryoga are sharing the same room, its because Ryoga figured that with Ranma and Ukyo both being girls and him being in the same room, there is little chance of anything...untoward going on. Plus it's cheaper.

Thirdly, for those of you surprised by Ranma acting how he did in the hot springs changing area, consider. Ranma has just had what is probably one of his worst nightmares happen to him; his curse has become his real body. I would not be surprised if he had acted like that in canon off-screen because, even though he would maintain his macho personality in front of Mousse and Ryoga, in private he couldn't have been doing well.

Lastly, as for the kiss with Ukyo and why Ranma didn't reject it or accept it, I will leave that for you all to guess.

Also, Nodoka only put two and two together recently about Genma giving her clan leadership powers and the Kuonji incident. Until recently, she didn't know why he gave them to her.

Sorry it took so long for a new chapter to be posted; my beta just got back from his trip=).

loaned: Thank you, I will try to keep doing a good 'hob'=).

Aondehafka: I agree; more reviews would certainly be nice. Thank you for your compliments on my recent fics; I must say I always rather liked yours, especially 'Nocturne' and 'Dreams of the Earthborne'.


	23. Guardians

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 23**

**Guardians**

_To protect the ones we care about..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Saturday March 4, 1994**_

Shampoo quietly sit on the bed in her room while reading yet another volume of the Joketsuzoku Archives. 'Ugh, I'm still on only volume 16 of 596; this will take forever to finish, won't it? Oh well, at least there is no work for me this morning since Cologne knows how important this is...'

Suddenly, she heard a voice she recognized, and rolled her eyes as she heard footsteps coming swiftly towards her door. Suddenly someone swooped into the room and called out amorously, "Oh, my beautiful Shampoo! Shall we go out on a date together now that the beast Saotome has left Nerima? Or would you prefer to wait until dinner so as to have extra time together?"

Shampoo blinked twice as Mousse asked her television out on a date. She fought a battle between her irritation at his antics and request, and her happiness that her friend had returned unharmed, even if she disliked his pursuit of her. In the end she gave him a small smile as she bonked him on the head lightly with her chui. Suddenly, Shampoo heard something that she never expected or thought she would hear in her room; an exclaimed "Oh my!".

Shampoo could only stare as Kasumi Tendo, of all people, rushed up to a wide-eyed Mousse and cupped his chin in order to look at the small lump where he had just been hit, then said, "Are you OK Mousse Dear? Let me take a look at you, you seem tense."

Surreptuously, Shampoo pinched herself to see if she was dreaming or had somehow lost her mind while burying herself in the archives; after discovering that, yes, this was indeed real, she settled for detachedly watching Kasumi press herself against Mousse's arm lightly, completely stupefied.

After bandaging Mousse's bump far more than it probably needed, Kasumi smiled at the confused male Amazon, eyes filled with kindness and perhaps something else. She then said happily, while putting a basket into the boy's hands, which he held uncertainly, "Oh, Mousse dear, I wanted to give you these cookies I made and ask you if you would like to have tea with me tomorrow. It would make me so happy if you said yes..."

Shampoo barely stopped herself from giggling like a madwoman...or Kodachi… at the sight of Mousse. He looked like his brain had fried from trying to comprehend exactly what had just happened. Seeming to master himself, Mousse managed to say, a little uncertainly but still firmly, "I am sorry Miss Tendo, but my answer must be..."

He might have rejected her then, but Shampoo, seeing a golden opportunity, grabbed one of the many pairs of glasses he had left lying around and put them on him, making it possible for him to look into the eyes of the woman he was trying to reject. Suddenly, his tone lost his firmness and his message changed. "...I...um...uh..."

Kasumi's eyes seemed to sparkle from her aura of kindness as she took a half-step closer to Mousse, conveniently pressing his arm firmly against her chest and clearly sealing his fate as he choked out, "...Four o'clock?"

Shampoo managed to stop herself from cheering and smirked as she watched Mousse's complete and ignominious capitulation to the eldest Tendo girl. 'I sure wish that I could win Ranma over that easily; I was beginning to think that he would never give up. Apparently, no-one stands a chance against Kasumi Tendo..."

* * *

Ryoga and Ukyo were busy eating lunch in the dining area of the Hotel Inozuru, Ukyo eating food provided by the hotel, because she would have had to make her food outside of it, and Ryoga eating the lunch that Akane had made for him the day they had left; Akane, not being an idiot, had made sure that it was the kind of food that would keep for days just in case he wasn't hungry until then. 'Mmm, delicious. It's just as good as that time she cooked me dinner, maybe even a little better.'

Ukyo glanced at him, apparently noticing the bento box that was in the style Akane typically used, and said scathingly, "Ryoga you moron. I know you wanna impress Akane, but suicide would be going overboard, even if it is with her cooking."

Ryoga glared at the foolish okonomiyaki chef and snarled while saying furiously, "Her. Food. Is. Delicious! How dare you insult her cooking!?"

As he said this, he barely managed to bite back a chuckle at the sheer irony of him saying it while actually meaning it and not just trying to defend Akane. 'Still, I can sorta see her point of view; if we had had this discussion even three weeks ago I would have been lying and possibly suicidal.' Nonetheless, he focused on his anger toward the Ukyo as, apparently, she hadn't finished yet, because she continued with a sneer, possibly trying to get something off of her chest.

"Besides, why would anyone want HER? She can't cook, can't show her feelings, and, for crying out loud, USED you to make Ranma jealous! Why the hell doesn't he just give up on her!? It's infuriating!"

Ryoga was starting to see red, something that rarely happened to him when Ranma hadn't been involved in the situation. Almost howling with rage, Ryoga roared back, venting a little himself, "I just can't see why she, or anyone for that matter, would want Ranma! He insults her all the time, doesn't respect her, and can't even decide whether he likes her or one of his stupid other fiancées!"

Ukyo's battle aura flared up at Ryoga's insult to her beloved "Ranchan", and she leaned towards him, looking like she was considering whether or not to torture, then kill him, or the other way around. She then drew herself back, visibly calming herself down with several deep breaths, and said, in a forcedly light tone of voice which did little to conceal the anger she clearly still felt, "Well, if you would just get past your silly issues, you might just win her. After all, with Ranma unable to decide at the moment, she is vulnerable to even an imitation of a good man."

Ignoring her insult, Ryoga hesitated, then said quietly, while bowing his head to conceal his eyes, "It looks like she has chosen Ranma though..."

Ukyo seemed to think for a moment before responding, then said confidently, "While it says a lot for her intelligence that she has chosen my Ranchan as someone she loves, that doesn't mean that she wins Ranchan or you lose her; heck, if you fought for her, you might just win her heart. Besides, its better than the alternative; the only thing that would be worse than getting rejected by the one you love would be never finding out whether or not she might have loved you back."

Ryoga turned his head to look at Ukyo carefully, then said bitterly, "You just want me to fight for her so you can get the jerk to yourself, don't you!?"

Ukyo then looked down at her food and ate the last few bites in silence before saying quietly, "I won't deny that Akane choosing you would make it far easier for me, and I would definitely like that. I might not even have gotten interested in your guys' relationship if it weren't for this blasted competition for Ranma's heart, but there is certainly more to it than that. If she would've chosen you over Ranchan, then I'd say that she didn't love him enough to deserve him anyway, and I have no intention of losing to someone who would've chosen someone else over Ranchan if they had the choice. If she wants Ranchan, she had better be willing to choose him over you, cause I won't settle for anything less!"

Ukyo then paused and took a deep breath, before continuing lightly and cheerily, "Besides, SHE hasn't even kissed him yet to my knowledge, that gives you a window of opportunity to say the least."

As she smiled, Ryoga frowned; while his normal tendency was to believe the worst of Ranma anyway, he couldn't help but notice Ukyo's little slip. 'Wait a minute... "SHE hasn't even kissed him? That means...'

Suddenly Ryoga jumped up and roared, battle aura blazing and fury in his eyes, "RANMA SAOTOME! How dare you cheat on Akane with Ukyo!?"

Ukyo rolled her eyes at this and was about to explain, but both were suddenly confused by the sounds of chi-blasts striking rock coming from the hotel hot springs. Putting their argument and Ryoga's fury on hold, Ryoga and Ukyo raced there to see what was happening...

* * *

"Huff, huff, huff."

Akane paused after completing another quick sprint from the porch to the koi pond and back. 'Dang, this is pretty tough; I've never trained like this before, except for last weekend of course. Will I even be able to keep this up week after week? Maybe, just maybe, I shouldn't try so hard...'

In the midst of her crisis of confidence, she remembered some of the rougher training that she had seen or heard Ranma and Ryoga doing. 'Those two train far harder than this; I mean, one time, Ranma practiced dodging by fighting against swarms of hornets while Ryoga was slamming himself against boulders for days on end...'

As she was pondering this, she had been doing a set of katas, a new one, no more advanced than the one Ryoga had helped her master; she figured that he would be pleased if she mastered or at least became proficient in another one while he was gone. 'Besides, even if I don't quite master it myself, maybe daddy or Mr. Saotome would be willing to critique how I am doing and help me. Maybe then Ryoga would be as proud of how I am doing like he was after that time we trained together...'

Closing her eyes as she finished with that particular kata and moved back to the only one she had mastered, she pictured the small smile Ryoga had been wearing as he watched her deflecting the rocks during their training that weekend, then she thought of how her fiancé might once she showed him her improvement.'

'I'll bet that it would shock him completely to see the 'stupid tomboy' fighting as well as I will be.' As thoughts like this swirled through her mind, the stupid voice sent her an image wherein she saw Ranma watching her beat up that Herb girl easily, running up to her, kissing her, and then... She blushed and shook her head to clear it of THAT particular image, although she did wonder just what it would be like if Ranma were to kiss her.

As she decided to go into the dojo and do some more strength and speed training before calling it quits, she noticed her sister Kasumi returning back from her daily errands and shouted a greeting, "Hey Kasumi! Did your errands go well today!?"

Kasumi smiled at her brilliantly and cheerily responded with a wave while calling back, "Yes Akane dear! My errands went quite well. I got some beef half-off and there was a great discount on the squid and cabbage; plus, I have a date with that nice man Mousse tomorrow."

Akane smiled and kept walking into the dojo, then suddenly stopped in shock as the last part of what Kasumi had said registered.

"SHE'S GOT A DATE WITH WHO!?"

* * *

As Ukyo and Ryoga ran outside to the hot springs, they saw a boulder hit Ranma on the head, apparently knocking her out. Clearly, Herb had been fighting her, as she said, "Heh, Lady Luck has abandoned you, it seems."

Unfortunately, it seemed that merely defeating Ranma wasn't enough for her this time, as Herb charged up chi energy in her left hand and calmly said, "Time to finish you off..."

'Oh no you DON'T! You aren't hurting my RANCHAN!' Ukyo quickly unleashed a barrage of throwing spatulas at the Musk princess; meanwhile, a similar volley of bandannas was thrown by Ryoga at the curse-locking fiend. Obviously, for a warrior of her caliber, it was relatively easy to dodge both of their attacks, but the point had been to stop her from killing Ranma anyway.

However, Ukyo wasn't quite prepared for the chi blast aimed at her and was quickly slammed into the rocks surrounding the hot springs by it; she shrieked in pain as a particularly sharp rock stabbed her in the arm.

"EYAAAAH!"

As she slowly regained her bearings, Ukyo saw the princess running away and her beloved implanted in one of the rocks right beside her, probably from another chi blast. Ukyo would have rushed over to her fiancé's side, but from the way she jumped up and said "Let's move!", she knew that Ranma wasn't in any danger. Ukyo then started to check herself over, especially her arm, when Ranma, apparently with far more practice at this, rolled up her sleeve, examined her wound and bandaged it, all inside of twenty seconds. Ukyo blushed a little at her fiancé touching her and said quietly, turning her face away from his, "Thanks, Ranchan..."

They quickly took off, heading toward the mountain that contained the water pot that they needed, Ukyo with a slight smile still. 'Huh, I doubt marrying her could go that badly if she stayed a girl if I can still blush like that at her touch! Wait a minute! FOCUS! We've got a water pot to find!'

As she read the directions off the map they had received from Cologne, she was REALLY glad that she had managed to keep the map safe...

* * *

"This is an unmitigated disaster my old friend..."

Genma frowned in annoyance as Soun tearfully continued his rant. Even though he had become quite hysterical, Genma could see why he was concerned; Nodoka's actions could easily undo all of the progress that they had made with the relationship between their two children thus far.

'One of Akane's more convenient advantages thus far has been that, even though my son doesn't respect me or Soun very much, we have managed to get him to see Ukyo's engagement and Shampoo's Amazon 'marriage' as claims on his honor to resolve rather than real relationships or engagements. If Nodoka makes Shampoo's claim into a real engagement, Ranma might consider her as the 'official' fiancée instead of Akane.'

After careful consideration, Genma said, clearly frustrated as could be seen by his grimace, "There is not much that we can do Soun; if my curse were to trigger, she would figure out about Ranma's curse almost certainly. She isn't stupid after all. I definitely can't go, and if I don't go, no-one will be able to stop her."

Soun's face went pale, but further brainstorming was disrupted by Akane's shout.

"SHE'S GOT A DATE WITH WHO!?"

Soun, apparently making another one of his brilliant deductions, roared as he raced off, "WHO IS DATING ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS!?"

**Author's Note: **Some of you might be wondering why Akane got so hung up by Ryoga's being proud of her in this chapter. If you would, consider how she is normally treated in the Ranma world, especially with the wish that she made in this alternate universe; she is basically a tagalong other than being Ranma's fiancée. She can't cook nearly as well as the others, she is frequently ridiculed for being either 'stupid' or thick, and she is, by this point, easily the worst martial artist in all of the Nerima Wrecking Crew. The only interest that people have really shown in her is romantic or lustful unless she has something they need. As such, I firmly believe that, if someone was impressed with her for her own sake, she would fight as hard as she possibly could for their approval.

On other topics, Mousse is clearly no match for Kasumi's 'barrage of ultimate kindness' technique, just wanted to say that=).

I am very disappointed in the complete lack of reviews that I have received for chapters 21 and 22. I will be putting up a poll in the near future, asking which of 'Choices and Consequences' and 'Soldier of Rage, Guardians of Light and Darkness' you would like me to focus on.


	24. A Race Against Time

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 24**

**A Race Against Time**

_Too little, too late_

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day Sunday March 5, 1994**_

Akane sighed; her attempts at talking sense into her sister about her date with the Amazon boy clearly weren't going well. Kasumi seemed to think that Mousse had hung the sun and the moon. Groaning, she turned to Nabiki, begging for help; Nabiki nodded and immediately started trying her luck with the surprisingly obstinate Kasumi. Nabiki walked up to her and said, calmly and clearly, "OK Kasumi, I have to ask this; how could you ask that boy to take you to tea that easily? No. No. No, that just won't do!"

Akane, seeing an opportunity to possibly get through to her eldest sister, nodded and chimed in, "Yeah, think about it... Mousse is a Chinese Amazon; do you really want to get involved with one of those nutcases what with all they try to do to Ranma? Plus, he's clearly crazy about Shampoo! Do you really want to date someone who would rather be with someone else!?"

Nabiki then looked right into Kasumi's eyes and said, kindly and compassionately, "Kasumi, you can't just let him take you to a teashop... As a Tendo, what you should do is make him take you to dinner, the movies, ice cream and pay for all of it!"

As Akane rolled her eyes at Nabiki and considered banging her head against the nearby wall, Kasumi said, with a tone that, if on anyone else, would have been recognized as annoyance, "That is enough. Akane dear. Nabiki dear. I can handle myself and will be going out with Mousse tonight, so don't worry about me!"

Akane, determined to protect her sister from the likes of people like Mousse, and maybe set her up with Doctor, something that, so far, she had been quite unsuccessful with, but the sudden crying of, to her surprise, Genma, distracted her.

"Oh Nodoka! You do not realize it yet, but without anyone to stop you, you will be used by those wicked Amazons to ruin the sacred Tendo-Saotome promise of joining the schools!"

Feeling a sick dread coiling in the pit of her stomach, Akane walked over to the two men plotting by their shogi board and asked quietly, "Ruining the Tendo-Saotome promise? What do you mean? I thought that nothing could break it."

Genma, pale-faced, looked at her with watering eyes and replied, "Nodoka, any moment now, will be engaging Ranma to that Shampoo girl! I could object at the ceremony and maybe persuade my wife to cancel it, but if I were to get splashed, she would figure everything out about the curses and make Ranma and I fulfill that evil Seppuku contract!"

Akane, very worried now, thought frantically of how to prevent what Genma was telling her would happen, and then she remembered the waterproof soap that Ranma had told her about receiving from Shampoo. Eyes brightening, she then yelled, "Genma! Ranma got some waterproof soap from Shampoo the night before that Herb showed up; if you soap yourself down with it, it will protect you from cold water until it washes off! He probably left it here cause he was stuck in girl form anyway!"

Genma, for the second time in three days, nearly flew in his attempt to search for and find the waterproof soap so that he could use it on himself and stop the Amazons. Meanwhile, Akane remembered something. 'Wait, shouldn't I be relieved that Shampoo could get rid of the engagement?' The voice that always seemed to haunt her thoughts nowadays replied, laughing, 'Not anymore; you want Ranma for yourself now, no other girls allowed! Don't deny it!' Akane, blushing, couldn't find the slightest wish in her to deny what the voice said...

* * *

As the three of them ran, Ukyo, reading the map, considered their situation carefully. 'OK, from what the map indicates, there is only one path up Treasure Mountain, although it is well hidden. Luckily, it would enable us to bypass the 'monsters' that this warning on the map mentions. On the other hand, we could try to hop our way up the mountain directly...'

She considered the pros and cons carefully as she hopped over a large rock. 'I don't think that the Musk have an actual map to the place; Cologne gave us her only one and why would they have stopped in Nerima to talk to her if they had a copy already? As such, they probably have no alternative to going straight up the mountain and hopefully lucky. If we followed them though, we would probably bump into them, although it would probably be the shorter path.'

She then thought the alternative route. 'If we go down the secret way up the mountain on the other hand, we would probably be able to avoid them unless we fail to beat them to the treasure. Hmm...' In the end, Ukyo shouted back to her companions, who were running behind her as she held the map,

"Hey guys! This way! The map has some secret path up Treasure Mountain; while it might be a tad longer, it'll allow us to reach the treasure without being slowed down by obstacles. Plus, Ranchan, we could postpone your rematch with Herb until you are in guy form again!"

After a quick glance at each other, the boy and boy-turned-girl both whined ineffectually a little.

"Darn! I wanted to get my revenge on that Lime guy first; how DARE he embarrass me in front of Akane like that!?"

"Hmmph. I could take Herb out now if I had to. When it's important, Ranma Saotome never loses!"

Ukyo smiled a little at the antics of the pair; Ryoga was just griping like he usually did and Ranma apparently REALLY wanted to pound Herb in the rematch, even more than usual. 'It was probably quite humiliating to him to lose twice to the same guy like that and get stuck in girl form.' Rather than argue with the two of them, Ukyo just led them towards the path, which was concealed in brush, at top speed.

'Maybe if we get lucky, we can avoid fighting Herb at all...' Ukyo had a lot of pride and confidence in her fiancé, but she was also very practical and knew that, all in all, it would be best if they were able to avoid the Musk completely. As much as she would like to get a rematch with Mint herself, it would be far smarter to avoid it if they could...

* * *

"NODOKA! Stop the ceremony!" Genma shouted as he burst through the doors of the Nekohanten. He immediately looked around for his wife frantically, much to the amusement of the watching matriarch; said matriarch announced her presence with a short cackle, then, as he whirled around, she pogoed up on top of a table near to him and said, calmly and with a touch of mirth,

"Mr. Saotome, how nice to welcome you to the Nekohanten. Now, what ceremony would you be referring to?"

The bald man leaned over and almost shouted in the old woman's face, "You know perfectly well which ceremony I am referring to Cologne! I want you to bring Nodoka to me so that the two of us can stop this dishonorable sham of an engagement from happening! Do I make myself CLEAR!?"

Cologne, not phased by either the volume or the halitosis, sent the bald man crashing to the floor with a perfectly executed strike from her staff, and then she smiled. Sinisterly or not, the effect was quite terrifying and Cologne knew it; as Genma Saotome backed away, the mighty Amazon matriarch sat down and started to speak mildly, as if about the weather.

"Mr. Saotome. Please allow me to enlighten you on a few things. First, the ceremony was completed punctually at ten o'clock this morning as planned; it is now noon, so your wife has already left this fine establishment some time ago. Luckily, it really didn't matter if you showed up or not because, unlike you, your wife actually believes in and lives with honor, rather than merely using it as an excuse. She likely would have made use of her clan head powers to override your objections anyway. It really is too bad how she can take satisfying honor to the extremes most of the time, but this time it is convenient for our party, wouldn't you say?" She then lifted a finger, almost casually.

Cologne then continued, while lifting up another finger, "Two, you may not like it, but Ranma's new engagement to Shampoo is every bit as official and honorable as the one between him and the Tendos, if a bit less official than the one with the Kuonjis."

As Genma blinked in shock, Cologne continued, "Oh yes, it seems that you conveniently forgot how, after the incident with Ukyo's family, you gave Nodoka the position as clan head so that, for any future similar situations, you wouldn't have to even think about the possible consequences. Ironic how that backfired, isn't it?"

Then Cologne held up a third finger, hopped over to the edge of the table so she could look down on the worthless fool and, voice growing colder than an Arctic blizzard, said, "Finally, the waterproof soap that I smell on you is quite rare and valuable; you should only use it when dealing with your wife or in another similar life or death situation. It is a gift to your son, so if you were to use it any other way, I would become DISPLEASED."

As Genma cowered before the Amazon matriarch, she had to smile. 'Scaring the daylights out of this waste of flash really is a lot of fun; I will have to remember that for the next time we meet!' Then Cologne calmly bashed him over the skull and lifted him using her staff, bounced towards the door, and spoke aloud once more, in that mild tone she had used earlier. "Since it is clearly a strain on your pathetic brain to walk and talk at the same time, let me offer you some assistance returning home."

Then, using her staff as a golf club, Cologne achieved the coveted 'eagle' as she sent Genma hurtling through the skies and into the koi pond outside the Tendo home...

* * *

'Why did I ever agree to take this route?' As the three martial artists hurried to the top of Treasure Mountain, Ryoga questioned himself yet again as to why exactly he was going on this journey with Ranma and Ukyo.

'If we had kept following the Musk, it is likely that we would have fought them, giving me a chance to get the 'pail of preservation' and cure myself. Why then did I barely object to Ukyo's planned route at all? I barely even considered curing my curse when I had the opportunity. Am I really along on this quest solely to cure Ranma, my most hated enemy?'

As Ryoga continued to brood, Ranma started speaking suddenly, in an awkward tone of voice he looked away and said, "Um Ryoga. Ucchan. I know that I could probably take care of these Musk idiots myself, but thanks for coming along anyway."

Ryoga and Ukyo both knew that, for Ranma, this was a major thank you and so Ryoga replied with a mumbled "You're welcome.", but Ukyo giggled a little and replied with a smile, "Thanks, but you really should know by now that I would have come even if it wasn't so important; still, you're certainly welcome Ranchan."

After listening to Ukyo's honest admission, Ryoga felt that he had to set the record straight about why he had come. He stared into one of the rocky walls of the ravine that they were running up and said quietly, and a little guiltily, "Ranma, one of the main reasons I am here is to steal the 'pail of preservation' and lock myself in human form, not to help you."

Ranma whirled around to stare at him and said, laughing, "Whadaya mean, Ryoga? The 'pail of preservation' would just lock you in curse form, you idiot. Don't you think that Cologne would've mentioned it if it could have been used to cure my curse?"

Ryoga felt like the idiot Ranma accused him of being as he gulped at the thought of what would have happened, and then shuddered. 'Maybe that 'honesty is the best policy' junk may be onto something. I would have truly hated it if I had to spend the rest of my life as P-chan."

Ukyo, luckily too far away to hear their conversation, yelled back, "Come on guys, it's almost dark. Let's try to make it to a good campsite soon, unless..."

Ranma carefully replied, "Unless...?"

Ukyo continued, "Unless you guys wanna keep going through the night. Whatcha think? We should still have enough energy to be at the top of our game for another day or so if you wanna."

Ryoga and Ranma looked at one another a moment, and then said in unison, "Let's go on through the night."

Ukyo nodded and kept leading them as Ryoga hoped that this would work. 'Maybe if we keep going on through the night, we can avoid Herb and her men. Normally I'm not one to run out on a good fight, but curing Ranma's gotta be our top priority, at least for right now...'

* * *

To Mousse's surprise, going to tea with Kasumi had somehow stretched until it was nearly time for dinner, a full two hours. They had found that, surprisingly enough, the two of them had a lot in common; they both did a lot of the general housework for the people that they cared about and both were quite underappreciated for it. They even found, to their surprise, that they shared a common liking of romances on television and in the movies, which Kasumi was questioning him on now, laughing lightly all the while.

"Oh I see! So that's where you got your idea for impressing Shampoo by taking her to a museum, although I suppose that it is too bad that the exhibit won't be on for a few weeks. Still, she does seem to appreciate the tough, rugged, if slow-witted man more than one who is clever and funny like you."

Mousse, surprising himself, blushed at the compliment. He then smiled at the girl who acted as housekeeper of the entire Tendo family and said, still smiling, "Well, I would certainly like to think that I am more intelligent than Ranma. He has four women after him, but he can't bring himself to choose Shampoo, by far the best of the lot. Moreover, he chose from your family the one who distrusts and beats him the most rather than a quiet, clever and attractive young lady like you. He isn't that good at the martial arts either, despite how much time he spends boasting about it. 'I'm Ranma Saotome and I never lose! Except when I do!'."

Kasumi giggled at this a little, and then said, "Akane really isn't that bad you know. While I was in bed all day Friday on account of this cold I caught, she offered to cook the meal for the whole family. Of course, that presented its own problems, but it was certainly nice of her to offer!"

At this, Mousse snorted, picturing Ranma forced to eat a seven-course meal cooked by Kasumi's youngest sister was one of his favorite fantasies for killing the Saotome mongrel. Mousse then looked at the time, and then said sadly, "Kasumi, I am afraid that its almost time for the dinner rush, and I know that, in order to protect your family from what Akane calls 'cooking', you should probably get going as well."

As the young woman giggled, then prepared to leave the teashop, she suddenly turned back to him and smiled. Somehow, this caused Mousse to impulsively kiss her on the cheek, causing her to have a healthy blush. The pair then bid each other farewell, and Mousse, en route to the Nekohanten, found himself wondering what exactly had possessed him that made him want to kiss Kasumi on the cheek.

'Perhaps it was because we seemed to be kindred spirits, but I wonder why she seems to like me so much all of a sudden; Shampoo was supposed to be the one to fall in love with me, especially after I got her in bed at the Tendo home with the 'fishing rod of love' Fri-day...'

Mousse stopped in horror, remembering something from the conversation he just had. 'Wait a moment. Kasumi said that she had been in bed all day Friday as well! Also, I forgot to put my glasses on before using the fishing rod! She would look an awful lot like Shampoo with her hair undone and me being unable to see worth a darn...'

Mousse then screamed, loudly enough that he almost deafened himself, "NOOOO!"

He slammed his fist against a nearby building, causing a small crater to form there, then continued shouting, "The first time that someone is actually interested in ME, and it's just the effect of some magic item! Why does Saotome get to have all the luck!? WHY!?

Mousse then, in a horrified daze, managed to collect himself enough to return to the Nekohanten and serve the dinner rush. All the while, he kept whispering to himself, "Why me...?"

**Author's Note: **As far as Cologne is concerned, Ukyo's engagement has the most legal weight of any of them because they are all supported by the head of the family, in the form of Nodoka, and Ukyo has already given away her dowry. As far as Ukyo's statement about their endurance goes, I have no doubt that Ranma, Ryoga and Ukyo could easily go without sleep for an extended period of time if it was necessary, although they certainly wouldn't enjoy it.

Lastly, you all might be surprised at Mousse's reaction, considering he was hoping for that exact thing to happen with Shampoo. That is actually quite simple; he found someone who he seemed to have a lot in common with and was interested, only to find that it was all a mirage. The reason his reaction was so severe is that he wasn't expecting something like that to be the case.

To your possible enjoyment, I have decided to focus on this fanfic rather than 'Soldier of Rage, Guardians of Darkness and Light', as I have only received a small number of reviews and traffic in that one. I will still keep writing for it, but probably not as frequently as for this fic.

Nerfherder: Why thank you, I was really kind of going for something like that, and I am certainly glad to see that I was successful.

NightmareSyndrom: It isn't that he complimented her so much, it's that she could tell that he was proud of her, but yeah that would certainly be a huge boost for her ego. I understand why you didn't review before and that's fine.

Recon12: Thank you and I most certainly will.

Hat O' Doom: Thank you. I have always been a firm believer in the idea that destiny exists only to be flipped the bird. As such, the character's choices will always have major effects on my stories.

aondehafka: You are correct on it not being delicious, although it is certainly not bad. However, if you have noticed, so far only Ryoga's food isn't completely awful, so that really hasn't changed much.

Indeed it does, and I was certainly planning on it somewhat, although I refuse to reveal too much at this point as I haven't decided quite yet exactly how I want the events back in Nerima to play out. On a offtopic, its ironic that the very same Rewind Gone Nuts you mentioned in your review is my beta for both this fic and 'Soldier of Rage'.


	25. Confrontations

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 25**

**Confrontations**

_No matter the cost, I shall..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day Monday March 6, 1994**_

"Come on. Come on. Come on."

Ukyo whispered to herself as Ranma, Ryoga and herself came in sight of the point where the map said that the treasure was: a large rock in the shape of a teakettle with water pouring out of what would have been the spout. 'Please Kami! We ran all night to get to the treasure before Herb and her men. PLEASE let us be on time!'

As the waterfall came into view, Ranma said aloud, "A waterfall of hot water... so that's where the treasure is...!?"

Unfortunately, it appeared that their plan of running through the night to avoid the Musk princess Herb had been in vain, for Herb was standing before them with a small smile on...his face? Finally understanding why Herb had been so interested in getting the treasure, Ukyo whispered to herself, "Oh, so that's why she...he wanted the treasure..."

Herb then shouted arrogantly, "Huh. So in you crawl, you pathetic bugs!"

He started charging energy in his left hand with a confident smirk, then shouted, "Now no longer in female form, I can blast energy... LIKE A MAN!"

As he yelled the last bit, Herb fired a stream of energy at the group, which they just barely dodged, that carved a several foot deep trench into the earth. Ranma then smirked back at the proud prince as she said back, "Hmmph, just like I figured....Somehow you never quite acted like a REAL girl..."

Herb, back by his attendants Lime and Mint, then shouted a challenge arrogantly at Ranma, "Most astute. And now... if you TOO wish to turn back into a man, you must first defeat me and steal the 'water pot of liberation' away! If by chance you should DEFEAT me... then I shall allow you to bathe in the waters from our Musk dynasty's secret treasure!"

Realizing that Ranma was going to accept the challenge as given, Ukyo interrupted before she could get herself into a one on one fight with Herb.

"That's how I..."

"Oh no you don't Ranchan!"

"Want...huh?"

Ranma looked at Ukyo questioningly while she pointed at Herb and his buddies and shouted, battle aura thick with anger, "We didn't come here just to sit around; we're fighting too! Besides... That BRAT has to dies for what he said to me!"

Ryoga growled as he nodded in agreement and, before Ranma could get a word in edgewise, Herb shouted back, "Very well then... Lime! Mint! Get rid of these extra PESTS!"

Right before battle was joined, Ukyo heard Ranma whisper to himself, confused, "What the hell did that one say to make Ucchan so mad?"

* * *

"GRAHH!"

Akane finished with her early morning katas with a shout as she performed the last move nigh-flawlessly, at least in her opinion. 'Heh, it may not be quite as good as that other kata Ryoga taught me yet, but it probably won't take me too much time until I have reached that point! I can almost feel myself improving under this regimen! Ryoga is a really good teacher when he gets serious; I mean, it took me nearly a week to get reasonably proficient at 'martial arts rhythmic gymnastics, but when he got serious, he taught Ranma overnight!'

Akane then got herself ready for school; without Ranma to deal with, she knew that she would make it in plenty of time. As she got ready to leave however, Nabiki called out to her, "Hey! Wait up a second!"

Akane paused long enough for the slower Nabiki to catch up. As her sister got closer, Akane noticed the 'It's gonna cost you...' smirk on her face and knew one thing for certain. 'I am DEFINITELY going to feel this in my purse today...'

Nabiki proved her suspicions correct as she said, still smirking, "I just heard from one of my sources WHY Kasumi suddenly thinks that Mousse is the greatest thing since sliced bread! But since you're family...I'll give you a discount... 1000 yen!"

Akane's desperation to protect her eldest sister from the ravages of Mousse left her little choice but to accept Nabiki's bargain, which she did with a heartfelt sigh and a muttered "Sure...".

Nabiki then got a serious look on her face and said carefully, "My source heard Mousse complaining aloud last night, something about finally having someone interested in him and it all being the result of a magic item."

At those words, Akane saw red. She then shouted angrily, "How DARE that boy try to manipulate my sister's mind like that!? I'll kill the perverted freak!"

She was about to leave for the Nekohanten and put actions to her words, probably involving her mallet, a bucket of cold water, and one very dead duck, when Nabiki grabbed her arm and looked her in the eye before saying, "Wait a moment Akane."

Akane paused for a moment, deciding to let her say what she needed to say before she dispensed her righteous vengeance upon the very much deserving head of Mousse. 'At the very least, this could end up being a great opportunity to test what I have been learning. I am definitely a much stronger fighter than before!'

Meanwhile, Nabiki started speaking patiently, "Akane, think this through logically; if Mousse was going to use some form of a love-inducing magic item on anyone, it would be Shampoo. Additionally, according to my source, he seemed quite distraught over the matter. Honestly, it's far more likely that Shampoo or Cologne did it; it would get Mousse off of Shampoo's back while getting them a potential ally right in our household."

Akane thought it over, then her eyes widened as she said in horror, "We also gave her a great opportunity to use it too; we left her alone upstairs after she 'fell unconscious', something I am now doubting. What if she did it then?"

Nabiki nodded grimly. "I think that we will have to have a talk with certain Amazons soon indeed..."

* * *

While the respective fighters on each side moved away from one another to give each pair of fighters room to battle without interfering in each other's battles, Ukyo carefully watched Mint as she considered the situation. 'OK. Based on our last encounter, Mint is significantly faster than I am, but, given his appearance and style, he probably isn't as strong, nor would he have as much endurance as me, although appearances can certainly be deceiving.'

She then smirked. 'As fast as he is at moving his feet and hands though, his volleys are no faster than mine. Also, the terrain, while open enough that there is little reasonable cover, is uneven enough that it might slow him down some. Maybe I can win this fight if am careful.'

Mint then glanced at Lime and, as if by a hidden signal, the two moved to attack in unison; Ukyo was unsurprised when Mint started trash-talking, "Give up! It will end just like last time so you might as well just not even bother!"

Mint opened up his attack with a barrage of daggers and a shouted "Wolf Fang Meteor Bullets!"; noticing he had stopped firing before the first dagger even hit her, Ukyo opted to block the barrage with her combat spatula. Unlike the previous fight, she made sure not to let him get into a blind spot. As she did this, she shouted, "For the insults you have given me... I'm gonna flatten you and fry you up like one of my okonomiyaki you BRAT!"

Nonetheless, even with all of her precautions, the brat was awfully fast; Ukyo had a difficult keeping track of him as, with one of his speed bursts, the boy managed to get himself on her left and less than ten feet from her. Firing another barrage at close range, this time Mint was too close to block by using her spatula as a shield; instead, Ukyo dropped her combat spatula and hurled some of her throwing spatulas in a pattern designed to block the barrage by deflecting the daggers into each other. As the barrage basically blocked itself and Ukyo picked up her combat spatula with a smirk, she shouted, "So much for your speed! Go chase your own tail Dog-boy!"

Mint, not having the sheer level of practice that Ukyo had gained from months of dealing with Kodachi, Shampoo, and, more recently, Ranma, had far less experience in the fine art of insulting one's opponents, shouted angrily, "Shut up slowpoke!"

Laughing at his pathetic insult, Ukyo continued in her quest to infuriate the brat by yelling, mock-apologetically, "Sorry! I didn't mean it! I know how poodles get when you insult them!"

Ukyo grinned as her opponent's face went red; with her mission successful, she aimed a fast barrage of her own at Mint. As he didn't have a weapon usable as a shield like her combat spatula, he elected to dodge his barrage using his speed. Mentally cursing said speed as he dodged her volley, Ukyo decided to await his next move as she moved so that a veritable minefield of bladed weaponry didn't surround her. As she awaited her opponent's next assault, Ukyo swore to herself, 'I don't care how fast this brat is, I'm gonna crush him! NOBODY calls me mannish!'

* * *

Ryoga frowned as he and his opponent looked at each other. 'Last time we fought, he took one of my stronger punches head on and was nearly unharmed; even Ranma wouldn't have been able to pull something like that off. He also possesses a great deal of strength- it seems if he was capable of KO-ing me in one hit. I wonder… how is his speed?'

Done thinking for the moment, Ryoga set aside his concerns for his usual battle-rage. Unlike fighters who tried to stay calm during battle, he had made it his objective to be able to fight as angrily as necessary without having to worry about losing control. While that had a few drawbacks, he never had to worry about a complete breakdown mid-battle. He then dashed at Lime while yelling furiously, "For embarrassing me in front of Akane, this is payback time!"

Both fighters started by aiming a straight right punch at their opponent's chest; Ryoga managed to dodge, but his opponent didn't, although the blow didn't seem to hurt him too badly. Lime, grabbing Ryoga's right arm, hurled him through the air at one of the nearby rocks. Although midair maneuvering wasn't his specialty, unlike say Ranma, Ryoga was able to land just fine. He then analyzed what he had learned from the exchange while backing away a little.

'His speed isn't that good, but his endurance must be incredible. Let's see how he deals with something other than a basic fist-fight though! When I get back to Nerima, I am definitely going to keep training with Akane; if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to do this!'

Lime slowly approached him with a smirk as Ryoga crouched, both hands on the ground. Lime laughed and said, "Was that all you had? I barely felt that!"

As Lime suddenly broke into a charge, Ryoga yelled, "Oh yeah!? Try...this!"

Ryoga quickly tapped the ground in front of him several times with his index finger and hopped back about ten feet. Lime, apparently not caring, just kept charging as Ryoga shouted, "'Lion's Roar Blast'!"

Drawing upon his depression that came from Akane still not having forgiven him, Ryoga's blast was strong enough to drive Lime back and cause some damage when it ripped through his chest armor. Lime had a pattern of cuts and bruises on his stomach where the blast had been focused. Still, Lime smirked through his pain, and then the 'delayed breaking points' that Ryoga had set up at his feet exploded, causing him to roar in pain.

"RAAAGH!"

Ryoga jumped back and waited for the dustcloud formed by his 'delayed breaking point' technique to settle as he grinned. 'If that did as much damage as I think it did, Ranma is going to be in for quite the surprise come our next battle!' Ryoga was starting to suspect that he might have knocked out his opponent, when suddenly three beach ball-sized rocks flew out of the dustcloud right at him...

* * *

Herb smirked as Ranma stared at her allies starting their battles, apparently that 'Ucchan' woman had surprised her by having her and that other man join the battle. Deciding to draw the foolish man-turned-woman away from the treasure before he struck, Herb aimed a series of chi blasts designed to force Ranma further and further from the waterfall.

Unfortunately, the annoying woman dodged the blasts relatively easily and returned fire with several of her own blasts; although her's were weaker, they still made it necessary for Herb to dodge them Ranma sneered at him and shouted, "I woulda preferred to fight you one on one, but it doesn't matter. I'll beat you anyway!"

'What a fool she is, challenging me... I'll bury her and her prattling tongue!' Herb, having had quite enough of this 'Ranma's' foolish bravery, aimed another blast at her, but this time, when he jumped to dodge it, he flew past her and fired his favorite special technique.

"'Soaring Dragon Spirit'!"

Both of the bounced chi blasts slammed into the pathetic girl and the combined effect sent her crashing to the ground. As the girl was apparently unconscious, Herb took a moment to check on the battles of his attendants. 'Hmm, Lime seems to be having a rather difficult time, but Mint appears to have things well in hand.'

Satisfied with the progress of the other two battles, Herb returned his attention to Ranma, only to find that she had been knocked unconscious for a shorter time than had been hoped for. The girl, insane as it seemed with her confidence unshaken by being knocked out in one attack, then said with a visage and tone of relentless determination, "Herb...Thanks to your becoming a man again...I saw through your 'Soaring Dragon Spirit'...Crystal clear!"

Completely certain of victory with the girl's poor showing so far, Herb said calmly, "Is that so...? Fine. Then let's hear what you 'saw through'."

**Author's Note: **It shouldn't be too big of a surprise that Ukyo isn't doing too hot against Mint. After all, a speed advantage in a relatively open battlefield is much more valuable than when it is relatively close quarters, but I suspect that some of you are shocked at how much better Ryoga is doing than in the manga. The reason is quite simple; in the manga, he probably didn't have the room necessary to make much use of his ranged techniques because of all the obstacles hampering his movement. In this battle, not only does he have a LOT of room, but he also has his new 'delayed breaking point' to create effective minefields for Lime to get hammered by. As Lime doesn't have much in the way of ranged attacks, his speed disadvantage has become far more painful than before.

If you are wondering why so much of the dialogue has been borrowed from the manga in this chapter, it is because the why's and wherefore's of the Ranma-Herb battle haven't changed all that much. As such, they would probably say a lot of the same things as in the manga.

NightmareSyndrom: I make no promises, but it could be a possibility in the distant future. At the moment, while Mousse has some attraction for Kasumi, that is far exceeded by his desire for Shampoo however.


	26. Blazing Dragon Rising

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 26**

**Blazing Dragon Rising**

_I was consumed in his flames..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Monday March 6, 1994**_

Ryoga grunted in pain as the rocks slammed into him; even though he could have probably dodged them, he knew that they were merely the distraction from Lime's main assault, so he let them hit him and focused on watching out for the tiger-striped freak. He noticed a shadow moving right in front of him and thanked the kami that the sun was to his back as he dodged back; thanks to the forewarning, he managed to avoid Lime's attack from above completely and instead left him to greet first the earth, then another 'lion's roar blast', causing Lime to howl in pain as it hit him right where the previous one had slammed into him.

"YOU LITTLE COWARD! STOP DODGING AND FIGHT ME!"

"I am! You just can't keep up with me!"

Ryoga had an extremely strong sense of deja vu as he remembered all the times that he had shouted the same thing in vain at that irksome rival of his. Now that he was in Ranma's shoes, he could see why he enjoyed doing it so much though; there was nothing quite like being quick enough that the opponent was unable to stay close enough to cause him any damage. 'Hmm, once I get back to Nerima, I am going to thank Ranma for making me have to get this fast just so that I could fight him, and then I am going to pound him into the ground for cheating on Akane and kissing Ukyo!'

Ryoga just smirked as Lime rushed blindly at him once again, only to have to back up because of another 'delayed breaking point' trap; unfortunately, it just meant that Ryoga fired another chi blast at him. Ryoga, felt a little sorry for the proud Musk warrior as, given the terrain and the speed difference, plus Ryoga's techniques, Lime was completely overwhelmed unless he could pull out something new, which it didn't look like he had. Ryoga knew that, without the 'delayed breaking point' Lime might have been a rather hard fight, even in this terrain, but because he had it, it meant that he could stop Lime's rushing charges cold unless the boy wanted to run into a veritable minefield, and if he didn't, Ryoga would just stay at range and wear him down with chi blasts. Still, they had to win, or Herb and co. would probably kill them.

"COME ON! YOU PATHETIC LITTLE MAN! GET OVER HERE AND HIT ME!"

"Hmmph! You might as well give up! Because I have no intention of losing! FOR AKANE!"

"THEN TRY THIS LITTLE MAN!"

Not a complete idiot, Lime started chucking boulders at Ryoga in an attempt to try to even the odds a little bit, but as he didn't have to worry about keeping track of Lime so much with him right in front of Ryoga, he just dodged and fired another 'lion's roar blast'. Seeing how Lime's chest was starting to look like Ranma's head after he got Akane REALLY angry, and that Lime was starting to cough up blood and, rather than roaring, was whimpering in pain, Ryoga decided to 'put him out of his misery' and dashed in at high speed, dodging to the right a tad to avoid Lime's ineffectual punch, and hit him with all his strength in the chest. Lime coughed up a little more blood, then collapsed unconscious. Ryoga grinned and looked around before saying aloud, "I hope the other guys are doing as well..."

* * *

"Ahhhh..."

Shampoo breathed contentedly, enjoying the bright morning sun, as she took a break from her research. She had been working on it for nearly sixteen hours a day, leaving only enough time every day for meals, hygiene, a short break or two, and four hours of sleep. Luckily, she had made it to volume 62; unfortunately, there were five-hundred ninety-six volumes total, meaning that she was barely more than ten percent of the way to the end. 'Still, I only have to find something that could cure Ranma's curse-lock. Stay positive Shampoo!'

Suddenly, she felt a series of vibrations moving through the ground quickly from somewhere nearby. As such, even though Akane's sudden assault had been made with only a battle-cry of "SHAMPOO DIE!" no more than a second before the attack, she had had plenty of time to to prepare a counter. She merely jumped over Akane and landed behind her, a little woozy from her exhaustion. Akane turned around swiftly and rushed at her anew while Shampoo recovered from her brief battle with exhaustion; to Shampoo's surprise and Akane's credit, Akane's swift punch combo was far better executed than any that Shampoo had ever seen her perform and it even left a few marks that Shampoo knew would end up being painful bruises. This led Shampoo to shout in surprise,

"What the hell!? How did you get so strong!?"

Akane merely smirked and kept up her attack as she shouted back, "I've been training! Now then, THIS IS FOR MY SISTER!"

Still, even completely exhausted and nonplussed by Akane saying something that made no sense whatsoever, Shampoo outclassed Akane in speed, skill and strength, so her expert hold and throw combo was not something that Akane was ready to deal with, not yet anyway. Immediately, Shampoo dashed up to Akane and slammed her face-first into the wall that she had been thrown into, then asked her, shouting again, "What do you mean 'This is for my sister!'!?"

"Like you don't know!"

Then Shampoo heard another voice, Mercenary Girl's, say aloud, "Actually Akane, I don't think she does. You see Shampoo, Kasumi has been affected by a magic item designed to make her fall in love with Mousse; obviously this would implicate either you or Cologne as only you two would have a motive to make someone fall in love with him, as no-one else really cares enough."

Shampoo frowned. 'I don't think that Great-grandmother is behind this; it isn't really her style to do something so...direct yet indirect as to make someone like Kasumi fall in love with Mousse. Besides, she knows that Mousse isn't a real threat, so why would she even bother? Still, it couldn't hurt to ask, maybe she would know who really is behind it.' As such, Shampoo then said calmly, if a bit exasperatedly.

"If Violent Pervert Girl promises to be quiet and not attack me again, I will take you both to Cologne so we can get this dealt with. I have better things to do, like finding a cure for Ranma's curse-lock, than playing games with you, Kasumi, or Mousse, so let's get this over with."

"I AM NOT A VIOLENT PERVERT GIRL!"

"Akane, just shut up and agree."

"ARGH! Fine..."

Shampoo smiled slightly and led the other two girls back inside the Nekohanten...

* * *

Ukyo had been glad that the brat's arsenal of throwing daggers ran out, until he started trying to make her a head shorter with a quick application of his rather large sword. Unfortunately, even though she had the kid out muscled, he had her outmatched in speed, so she was forced to stay on the defensive and try to come up with an idea to deal with his endless assault.

-CLANG- -CLANG -SKCH-

"AAAAAH!" Ukyo had no choice but to scream as his sword buried itself in her left arm, just barely missing an artery. Clearly the defensive fighting wasn't going too well, but she had one idea for winning the fight; if she could distract him and bind him up with her only 'yakisoba rope', then she should be able to win the fight right then and there. As such, she started trying to mess with the boy's head with some clever taunting, or a reasonable facsimile of it.

"So, is the reason -COUGH-, that you are going after me so much because you LIKE the mannish type, or is it just me?"

Mint's face suddenly turned green and Ukyo, in his distraction, managed to get a slash in at his leg before he hopped back, then he shouted angrily, "I AM NOT LIKE THAT! I DON'T LIKE MEN!"

Ukyo grinned and said, "Then what's wrong with a cute little thing like me?" She faked blowing a kiss at him, which made him go scarlet.

"I DON'T LIKE YOU LIKE THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE A GUY!"

Suddenly understanding the reason for his insults, Ukyo was unsure whether to thank Kami, or bash this head over the head a few times for his stupidity, in the end, she settled for yelling, "I'M A GIRL, DIMWIT!"

As they were out of range for fighting for the moment, Mint shouted back, "NO YOU AREN'T!"

"YES I AM!"

"NO YOU AREN'T!"

"FINE! YOU WANT PROOF!? HERE!" Ukyo ripped open the front her uniform and continued yelling, "See here! BREASTS! Thus, I AM A GIRL!"

Then she suddenly noticed the Musk tribe boy had dropped his weapon and was simply staring at her...chest like it contained the secret to life. Deciding to test him, she walked towards him slowly, his eyes staying fixed on the same spot, then, when she was right next to him, she waved her hand in front of his face; when he shook his head to clear it, he looked up into her eyes a moment, and then she proceeded to bash him over the head about twenty or so times just to be on the safe side, although he was unconscious at swing number four. 'You can't be serious...No wonder their tribe is going extinct. if they are all like this guy, I could just walk up to them, take off my shirt, then chop their heads off one after the other... Now then...' She looked her handiwork over and smirked.'...that really ought to do it.'

Ukyo then glanced around, while mourning the fact that her shirt was now ruined as she certainly didn't want to take the time to grab a new one from her pack in the middle of a pitched battle...

* * *

After telling Cologne what had happened to her knowledge and her suppositions, Nabiki could only wait for the ancient martial artist to respond. Cologne seemed to be thinking herself for several minutes, before she cackled and replied, clearly amused, "A fine display of logic Miss Tendo, for Shampoo and I are the only ones in Nerima who would have a motive to use love magic on Kasumi to make her fall for Mousse, but you made a mistake."

'Huh? I went over my deductions multiple times, my conclusions are sound, so that means that Cologne is probably lying... but she has never really bothered with that before...' Nabiki looked quizzically at her, while the other two girls seemed to be unsure what Cologne meant. Luckily, Cologne continued obligingly.

"You were using normal logic you see. The problem is I have found that in Nerima there is a special type of logic that needs to be used. Quite simply, in Nerima, when in doubt, it is the single most ridiculous, lame-brained possibility that you can think of that is typically the reason for anything. You see, Mousse could only know that it was love magic one of two ways, either he found out that someone else used it on her, OR he used it himself by sheer accident on Kasumi!"

Nabiki, disbelievingly, said, "And why would he have been using love magic in our house in the first place?"

Akane chimed in, "Yeah! That makes absolutely no sense! I mean, he has no reason to do it!"

Cologne then smirked, before replying with another cackle, "Haha! He most likely was trying to use it on Shampoo to make her fall for him, but he got the two girls mixed up thanks to his truly abysmal eyesight!"

'That's absurd! What kind of idiot would be that careless about something as important as that!?' Nabiki then recalled the 'Romeo & Juliet' incident and how Ranma had thought that he would be going on a trip to China, as well as a host of similar ironic and stupid coincidences. 'Never mind... knowing this city, Cologne is probably right...' In contrast to her's and Akane's reactions of sheer disbelief at Mousse's stupidity, Shampoo's reaction of calmness was quite interesting. After all, she had been the target according to Cologne, so wouldn't she have gotten angry if Cologne was correct?

Demonstrating an impressive ability to stay on the task at hand, even while she was exhausted, Shampoo muttered, "Come on Vio...Akane, let's see if we can find anything in Mousse's room that could be used to induce love."

Although clearly annoyed at what Shampoo had meant to say, Akane nevertheless followed her without comment, leaving Nabiki to ponder, annoyed at herself for missing something like the possibility of Mousse's accidental involvement, until Cologne spoke up again, practically reading her mind, "Miss Tendo, don't trouble yourself about missing that possibility; you used excellent logic and the majority of the time your deduction would have been perfect. It was so stupid that it was unlikely that normal logic could ever have come up with that possibility, for my great-granddaughter had the motive, the opportunity, and probably the means to use the love magic on Kasumi."

Although logically Nabiki knew that Cologne was correct, she still hated the fact that she had been wrong, for, without the ability to fight even as well as Akane, she had nothing but her agile mind and clever logic. Every time she was wrong, it felt like she had let herself become weak and vulnerable, and she hated that. While she was still grappling with this, Akane and Shampoo returned, carrying an instruction manual and... a fishing rod? However, Cologne nodded sagely, then spoke calmly, "Ah, one of those again, that would certainly explain it."

Akane looked over at her in shock, then said, "You've run into one of these before?"

"Indeed. Tell me, does the instruction booklet say how to undo it?"

Shampoo looked it over quickly, then said, "Unfortunately Great-Grandmother, it does not. It only says how to induce love, not how to undo the effects of the 'fishing rod of love'."

Cologne smiled slightly at this, then got a gleam in her eye that Nabiki recognized all too well, for it was usually the gleam that was in her own eyes. Cologne then said, "Well, Nabiki and Akane Tendo, it appears that the only one here who knows how to undo its effects... is me. Now, I have no particular interest in keeping Kasumi enthralled, so I am willing to tell you how to undo it...for a price!"

Knowing how this was awfully similar to her normal daily activities didn't make it any easier for Nabiki to reply dully, in unison with Akane, "And that price would be...?"

"A favor to be called in during the future upon your clan. Do not worry, it will not be a favor that threatens any obligations of honor in place as of now, so the engagement between you and Ranma is safe Miss Tendo. Before you ask, I will not be bargained with on this topic."

As Shampoo's eyes gleamed, Nabiki knew that Akane would accept, for even an unknown favor for Cologne was a small price to pay for their eldest sister. Within a matter of seconds, Akane did so...

* * *

Herb grinned ferally; although Ranma's deductions about his 'soaring dragon spirit' were excellent, it hadn't made that much of a difference in the course of the battle. Admittedly, she was a very good fighter, whose overall skill was probably the best he had fought since leaving his tribe in search of the blasted treasure, but she was woefully outmatched. Although Herb's anger was admittedly twisting his chi blasts, he was still managing to land glancing blows with many of them, and since he had this Ranma outclassed in chi as well, his target was hurting a lot more than he was from the 'pride of the fierce tiger' blasts that Ranma had been sending back at him. 'It will be almost a shame to kill her, no matter how ANNOYING she is. Given time, she might have ended up equalling me. Still, one must do what one must, especially when it will be so enjoyable!'

Ranma, although clearly hurt badly, nevertheless managed to taunt him, "Hah! You like my breasts don'tcha!? You probably want to take advantage of my poor, feminine form! After all, you can't get a REAL girl, can you!?"

"SHUT UP YOU WEAKLING!"

Herb was beginning to get truly furious which, while amplifying the power of his attacks, was killing his aim, but then, even in his battle-induced rage, he managed to notice something. Ranma had started manifesting a cold chi aura and was drawing him into a spiral. 'Could it be? Is she attempting to execute that technique?' Not giving away his suspicions, he kept up his attack and followed Ranma, but as it seemed more and more likely that said suspicions were correct, he began to prepare a counter. Suddenly, Ranma yelled, the light of victory in her eyes,

"Its about time I cut loose... with my secret weapon! Now... my ultimate secret attack!"

Playing dumb, Herb then said, "Secret attack!?"

"'FLYING DRAGON ASCENSION STRIKE'!"

As the vortex formed, Herb immediately countered with a wave of cold chi, protecting himself from the worst of the attack while suppressing a smile. Soon floating high above the battlefield, Herb watched Ranma for the perfect moment, which soon came. Clearly thinking that she had won the battle, Ranma turned around and hobbled towards the waterfall caused by the treasure, then Herb, allowing himself to drop down, fired a large chi blast at Ranma's back. Thanks to the wounds she had already received, Ranma collapsed instantly into unconsciousness. Herb then gloated, "Hmmph! What a weakling, thinking that she could challenge me! Now it is time...for her to die!"

**Author's Note: **As mentioned in the previous chapter, Ryoga is in a far superior position than he was in canon for his battle with Lime, which is why he won with relative ease. Against Mint, unless she manages to wrap him up or slow him down somehow, Ukyo, like Mousse, is at a severe disadvantage, which was only amplified by the terrain. Finally, because certain canonical events did not occur, Herb wasn't quite as angry at Ranma as he was in canon, leading his blasts to be more accurate and Ranma to take more damage, meaning that Herb's counter to the 'flying dragon ascension strike' Ranma used was a KO rather than merely damaging.

As for Nabiki; given how weak she is in physical combat, I would suspect that it is only her brains that make it possible for her to respect herself in a world where random people dropping by are all capable of destroying their entire house in a matter of minutes bare-handed.

I feel evil for including these cliffies! It feels so good!

aondehafka (Chapter 24): Aw, thanks! I hope that everyone got as many laughs out of those two moments as I did writing them.

aondehafka (Chapter 25): Yeah, she made a lot of mistakes in canon too, so I felt that her being able to effectively read minds, which would probably be necessary to figure that out if you weren't Cologne (She knows that she and Shampoo are innocent), would be more than a little excessive.


	27. Of the Valiant and the Honest

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 27**

**Of the Valiant and the Honest**

_Even stars die..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi or William Shakespeare, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**Monday March 6, 1994**_

"OH NO YOU DON'T! EAT THIS HERB! 'LION'S ROAR BLAST'!"

Herb jumped to the side, dodging the blast in the nick of time, only to be caught by a single punch to the gut, which sent him flying back a few feet. 'Serves him right! Even Ranma doesn't deserve to die like THAT, being executed like some common criminal!' Unfortunately, Herb quickly recovered and unleashed a punishing series of chi blasts. Although Ryoga had always been fairly good with chi, possibly even better than Ranma, Herb had him completely outmatched, and Ryoga was having a devil of a time even avoiding most of the blasts. Even with his great stamina, he was being whittled away rather quickly; to give himself time to plan; he put his index finger to the ground and cried out,

"'BREAKING POINT'!"

After he was immersed in the dust cloud, creating a smokescreen, he thought to himself. 'OK, Herb is faster than me, has better attacks than me, and is utterly ruthless. How can I win this battle? I doubt I will be able to catch him in a 'perfect lion's roar blast', and anything less he can probably shrug off unless I hit him multiple times...' Deciding on a plan of action, he dashed out of the smokescreen, and immediately started running at Herb while tapping the ground periodically as he moved, priming 'delayed breaking points'. He managed to get just past Herb when he realized that Herb had been easily ready for him, as Herb slammed him with a kick, a chi blast, and a 'soaring dragon spirit', all in about five seconds. Ryoga howled in pain and shouted,

"YARRGH! CURSE YOU HERB!"

Ryoga managed to get Herb from behind with a 'lion's roar blast', but the damage he had taken significantly outstripped the damage he had dealt. Realizing that ranged combat was basically hopeless, Ryoga dashed in, hoping to make use of his brute strength in a grapple. In response to this, Herb laughed, "Ha! Pitiful worm! You are even weaker than the man-woman that fought me before! How could you possibly match me!?"

He proceeded to show the reason for his confidence, as his punches were so fast that Ryoga had no choice but to allow himself to be blasted back, unless he wanted to get overwhelmed by them. Herb immediately followed up with another 'soaring dragon spirit', sending Ryoga crashing to the ground, breaking several ribs in the process. 'ARGH! This is ridiculous! I AM NOT WEAKER THAN RANMA! OK now, let's see. There has to be a way to take this guy down, there just has to!' He cast around inside his mind, looking for something, anything, that might allow him to send the braggart to his knees.

'Darn it, the only move in my arsenal that MIGHT be able to make a difference is my 'perfect lion's roar blast', but how am I going to hit him with that?' He then remembered how, so many times, Ranma had used his own attacks against him, and smirked. 'I've got it! For once Ranma, you are going to be useful after all!' He then yelled at Herb,

"Try this on for size you coward!"

Ryoga dashed straight at Herb, only to be knocked back by another chi blast yet again. Herb laughed at him, yelling out, "Pathetic fool! Now die! 'SOARING DRAGON SPIRIT'!"

Ryoga grinned inwardly. 'The one who will die is you Herb...'

* * *

Cologne grinned after Akane agreed to her terms. 'This will be extremely convenient when the time is right to execute our plan, but in the meantime...' She then looked at Shampoo and sighed, as her great-granddaughter looked completely exhausted from her near-constant research, with eyes that were narrowed from tiredness and large dark circles underneath. Nonetheless, she said,

"Shampoo, please assist them with Mousse; if they try to make him do it on their own, he will probably run. After all, Miss Tendo here even scares your fiancé, so I would suspect that she would terrify Mr. Part-timer. Just tell him that he has to use the 'fishing rod of love' here on Kasumi Tendo once more, and it will remove the love-spell."

Shampoo nodded and said, "Yes Great-Grandmother."

As the three girls started to go looking for Mousse, Cologne went to find Kasumi. After performing a search that encompassed the majority of Nerima, she found her using her 'aura of kindness' to try to get a wedding ring. After cackling for several minutes at the thought of Kasumi's kindness being so powerful that she was able to persuade a skinflint old man to sell her the ring half off, she stopped Kasumi from making the purpose and told her that she would lead her to where Mousse was.

As they walked to the Nekohanten, Kasumi suddenly asked, "Could you tell me more about Mousse? I love him ever so much, but I wish that I knew more about him?"

Cologne paused for a moment, then figured that it couldn't hurt, and might even help her forgive Mousse; she couldn't say that she approved of his chasing Shampoo or his laziness, but she didn't hate him. Besides, if Mousse felt as guilty as Nabiki had said he sounded, then maybe he might be distracted from his pursuit of Shampoo, and it would help if Kasumi didn't hate him for his mistake. In addition, it was just an innocent question, so she replied mildly, "What would you like to know Miss Tendo?"

Kasumi kept walking for a moment, then asked, "Why does he care so much for Shampoo? I mean, she has apparently been rejecting him for a very long time now, but he still won't give up on her. Why is that?"

Cologne glanced at her, mildly surprised that, even in the grips of love-sickness, Kasumi was capable of talking so kindly about her romantic rival, but said nonetheless, "You see, when Mousse was very young, he was mocked by the majority of the village. We pride ourselves on strength, even the males of our tribe, and Mousse, being nearly blind, was considered likely to be one of the weakest of the village. As such, he was treated abominably by the majority of the villagers."

Kasumi looked horrified and said, "Oh my! How awful! He must have had a very hard time of it..."

Cologne looked back at her and said, "Indeed, and, to make matters worse, his father, one of the best of the male warriors of the clan, died in an accident while watching him. All of this happened before he had even turned two years old. On the other hand, my great-granddaughter Shampoo decided to protect him from his peers, and became friends with him even though she was what you could call nobility and he was basically a disgrace, although it turned out that he had a fair bit of talent- not as much as Ranma or Ryoga mind you, but, given enough hard work, he could probably match them. He fell very quickly for Shampoo in his gratitude for her kindness, but, unfortunately for him, she has never really showed any intention of returning his romantic feelings."

Kasumi looked at Cologne thoughtfully, and then said, "I see..."

They walked inside of the Nekohanten and sat down to wait. Suddenly however, Cologne saw Mousse running, clearly scared for his life, and raised her eyebrow. When he saw Kasumi however, he stopped and walked over to her, just in time for Akane and Shampoo to dash inside the doors to the Nekohanten, both holding their weapons and panting heavily.

Akane, barely understandable, said, "Mousse,-HEH-Give-HEH-up-HEH--HEH-. You gotta undo i-HEH-t. The Love -HEH- magic."

Mousse said, surprised, "Oh, was that all you wanted me to do? I thought that you were trying to kill me...again."

Akane and Shampoo looked at each other a moment, then collapsed, exhausted, causing Cologne to chuckle at the antics of the younger generation...

* * *

As the battle between Herb and Ryoga had heated up, Ukyo had taken advantage of their distraction to take care of a few things; in particular, Ranma's wounds, and her state of dress. Noticing that the two of them were extremely focused on their battle, Ukyo quickly carried Ranma into the waterfall and immersed her in the boiling hot water, causing her to return to her natural state as a male. She grinned as Ranma woke back up, and then turned her head as she heard the massive -CRACK- coming from the direction of the battle.

'Dear Kami...'

* * *

Ryoga was prepared for his attack, but Herb's blasts hit him even quicker than he had expected, causing him to sink to the ground, and his vision to go blurry. 'No...This can't be happening. I...lost? All I tried...was meaningless? No...!' He could no longer see anything as time seemed to stop; he knew this was the end. He had been fighting all of his life, but never managed to truly get anything that he had wanted. Why should beating Herb be any different?

Scenes from his life went flashing by him, scenes of his greatest failures: his dousing with Jusenkyo water; his first rematch with Ranma and cutting off Akane's hair; when he was first claimed by Akane as a pet, but didn't reveal his secret as her pet pig, P-chan; his using a technique he thought would be lethal to attempt to defeat Ranma when he had mastered the 'breaking point'. More and more scenes flashed by him, showing his fear, his cowardice, his vindictiveness, and how, in spite of many chances to do the right thing, he had blown it so many times. It made him feel sick, and loathe himself as much as he had always claimed he loathed Ranma.

'Heh, I couldn't even reveal my secret to Akane until I thought she had already heard about it, and when I do, I discover that, in all likelihood, I am too late to even have a chance to win her heart! Her first thought upon deciding to give me a chance to even be her friend, was to use me to make my rival jealous! She hasn't forgiven me for my sins, and already from what I heard, has made plans to date HIM!' The worst part however, (not that Ryoga could admit it, even to himself) was that he couldn't even manage to help the one that Akane loved. He had completely, utterly failed to do anything to even slow Herb down; even if Ranma managed to recover from the beating he had taken, he was just too outmatched.

As he thought through all of this, somehow in the space of under a split second, he remembered a saying from the west that he had heard once, _"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once." _He wanted to chuckle, as he knew that it was true; he had 'died' many times in his life; knowing that, in all likelihood, this would be the day that he died, he decided that, today at least, he would be valiant and only die but one time.

Knowing for once, exactly what to say, he shouted as Herb continued floating, almost overhead, with an arrogant smirk, Ryoga said to himself, "I suppose that it is finally time for me to taste of death, but I refuse to go alone..." He then shouted, right as Herb was about to pass over his head, "HERB! AS I DIE, WON'T YOU JOIN ME IN MY HELL!? 'PERFECT LION'S ROAR BLAST'!"

All of his failure seemed to leave him for one shining moment, leaving him completely empty of anything, but he only stared up at Herb, grinning, as he waited for the end to come...

* * *

Herb wanted to laugh as he heard the ignorant worm's prattling. What could a weakling like him do to someone as mighty as the prince of the Musk tribe? Suddenly, he felt IT. He almost cracked his neck looking straight up as he sensed something above him. He could only stare, transfixed, as the massive column of green energy descended from the sky.

'What the!? WHAT HAS HE UNLEASHED!?'

The green light seemed to crackle, filled by a darkness that seemed to be the suffering of humanity rolled into one terrible force. It filled the air around him as he tried to block it, but to no avail. He railed against this massive green wave of energy, but was barely able to even affect it. As it broke through the last of his defenses, Herb thought to himself for but one moment, 'He has unleashed hell indeed...'

As the blast slammed into him, he knew that there was nothing left, save for screaming...

* * *

Mousse was surprised to find out that the whole reason that Shampoo and Akane had been chasing him around the city like dogs on the hunt was to merely cure Kasumi of the spell he had accidentally put her under. If they had actually said something rather than just started yelling his name and chasing him, he would have been happy to help, but Akane had been yelling in fury and Shampoo... had been all narrow-eyed, usually a bad sign.

He nodded at Cologne and said, "I would be OK with that, so how do I make Kasumi fall out of love with me?"

Mousse realized his mistake almost instantly, when Kasumi started looking at him with tear-filled eyes, and he was not helped by the fact that he had his glasses on. Kasumi then asked, sounding like she would turn on the waterworks at any moment, "You don't want me to love you Mousse? Why don't you want me...?"

Mousse started stuttering apologies again. 'Urgh! Why can't I talk normally when she gets all close like that!? That aura of her's must be truly terrifying!' He then snorted as he thought of asking her to get Shampoo to marry him while using said aura. Unfortunately, it appeared that Kasumi took his snorting the wrong way as tears started leaking out of her eyes. Cologne then, apparently having had enough, said, her tone annoyed yet amused,

"OK this is getting ridiculous. Mousse, hold this here please." She gave him the pole and quickly attached the sucker to Kasumi, before saying calmly, "Pull."

-POP-

All of a sudden, Kasumi seemed to be completely disoriented and dizzy, and quickly collapsed to the ground for a few seconds, before getting back up and saying, "Oh my! How did I get here?"

Mousse considered lying to her, and keeping this a secret, but he decided that telling the truth would be better in this case; he owed her that at least. Quietly, he said, "Miss Tendo, I am afraid that, purely by accident, I managed to use a magic artifact on you that made you fall in love with me. I didn't mean to do so, for I was aiming at Shampoo, but I hit it with you all the same, and for that, I give you my deepest apologies. Apparently, after the magic was undone, it stripped you of your memory of the event. Once again, I am truly sorry." Putting both of his hands together and hiding them both within his voluminous robes, he bowed his head and then looked at the young woman once again. To his great surprise, she was smiling.

Kasumi kindly said, "That is alright Mousse dear; I am sure that it was an accident. Also, it was very brave of you to tell me this even though I had forgotten the incident. Now then, I believe that I have to cook within a couple of hours, unless something has changed recently, so I bid you farewell." She gave him a small hug, and then left the Nekohanten to return home.

Cologne then frowned, before asking Akane, who had just woken up, "Miss Tendo, might I ask what happened to your sister Nabiki? I could have sworn that she was with you and Shampoo when you left..."

Akane frowned, and then said, "Oh, she had a date and figured Shampoo and I could handle the situation."

Cologne sighed, and then said, "Very well then. Now Mousse, I hope that you learned your lesson about love-inducing magic artifacts; if you are going to use one, make sure you use it on the person you mean to."

Akane raised her eyebrows, "Aren't you angry that he tried to use that on Shampoo?"

Cologne chuckled, "If I got angry at him over that, I wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on would I?"

As Akane left, Mousse could have sworn she said something like "Amazons...Hmmph!" causing him to chuckle. 'Its really too bad about the mistake, I actually had a pretty good time on that date...'

* * *

Ukyo could only stare as Herb was flattened into the ground by the biggest blast of energy she had ever seen. 'Surely, he has to have been defeated by that...Wait a minute! Where is Ryoga!?' Rushing over, she saw Ryoga, flat on his back, unmoving, and went to go see if he was still breathing, when she suddenly was sent flying by a powerful chi blast. After crashing into a rock, she could only stare numbly at Herb as he somehow dusted himself off, although he still looked like one giant bruise nonetheless, and said,

"This has gone on for long enough! It is time for you. To. Die! 'Flying sword of the URK'!" While Herb had been concentrating his energy, Ranma hit him with a flying kick from behind, FINALLY knocking the stupid prince out. Panting, he said to his unconscious foe,

"I agree with you on that. It has definitely gone on for far more than enough."

Ukyo, still disbelieving, asked unsurely, "Did...we win?"

Ranma looked around for a moment, then said grinning, "Ucchan, I do believe, we did..."

Ukyo grinned and said, "I think that we should get going after...wait a minute! Is Ryoga OK!?"

The two of them quickly went over to look at Ryoga. His body was most certainly unmoving...

**Author's Notes: **I have grown to enjoy including cliffhangers, how about you all? In case you were wondering, the 'perfect lion's roar blast' that Ryoga hit Herb with was comparable to that shown in the manga when he fought Lime. Only a foe of Herb's caliber would have been able to put up even a token resistance after getting hit by an attack of THAT level of firepower.

Sorry for the long wait, I got distracted by my other two main fics

**I am taking suggestions for techniques that Shampoo and Ranma might learn from video games. Bear in mind that the game must have been playable on the Super NES. Either include it in a review, or send me an E-mail.**

Kizmet: Indeed she did; as far as understanding Ranma's feelings as far as attractiveness goes, Akane has rarely done too well. Of course, I doubt anyone really has, but still... And it is most certainly a Nerima standard to misinterpret stuff like that. Sometimes I wonder if there was a spell cast on the ward to cause such an effect.


	28. Homecoming

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 28**

**Homecoming**

The return of the conquering heroes...

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**One Week Later Monday March 13, 1994**_

Akane bit her lip as she slowly walked through the house towards the bath; over the day, a lot of bad omens had been occurring, and it was starting to get her a little worried. Also, there was the fact that Ranma and Ryoga had been gone for nearly two weeks; given the fact that they had been given a map, she was starting to wonder what was still keeping them. Sighing, she stared at the floor as she continued walking. 'Right. Left. Right. Left...' Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and, unblinking, she turned and saw Ukyo standing there pointing at the 'occupied' sign.

Akane nodded and was about to turn away, when she remembered something. 'Wait, didn't Ukyo go with Ranma and Ryoga? SHE DID!' Whirling towards Ukyo, she yelled,

"Ukyo! Where the hell is Ranma!?

Ukyo smirked, then said, "Don't worry Akane, Ranma is just getting himself washed up inside the furo; we ran into a little rain, and he got turned into a girl again. Also, he didn't want to be all dirty when you saw him AS A GUY AGAIN!"

Akane grinned happily, "You mean he did it!? He got the curse-lock removed!? THAT'S GREAT!" Then she frowned slightly, "Wait a minute, why are you standing right outside then? You're trying to peep on my fiancé, AREN'T YOU!?"

Ukyo then asked innocently, "Oh, you mean your little weekly pick-me-up? No, I had plenty of chances to do that on the trip if I had wante..."

Akane's blood boiled and, without thinking, she threw open the door and yelled, "YOU PERVERT!"

Ranma, who had apparently been about to get out, yelled, "WHAT DID I DO!? You are the one who barged in here!"

Akane shouted, "Ukyo just said that you let her peep on you a bunch of times! HOW COULD YOU!?"

Ukyo laughed, then said, "Far, far better than daytime television...And Akane, I was saying that I had a lot of chances to peep on him IF I had wanted to! I didn't say that I actually did peep on him! And speaking of what I was saying about your weekly pick-me-up..." She motioned at Akane's glaring at Ranma, who had managed to get under the water just in time. "...I think that the 'pervert' here might be you..."

Akane spluttered as Ranma, although red in the face, chuckled and said, "You know Ucchan, you might just have a point about her...Regardless though, get the hell out of the bathroom! Both of you!"

Akane walked out dismally while Ukyo said something about having to check on the Ucchan's and left. Akane then thought to herself, 'What a way to say welcome back! Maybe Ukyo has a point after all... Maybe I am a pervert.', causing the other voice in her head to respond, 'FINALLY, she gets it!'. Akane was about to tell off said voice, when Ranma suddenly burst out of the bathroom, clothed again. Akane was unable to look at him directly until he said,

"Just so ya know, I am really glad that I am back and I'm happy to see you again, even if you are a tomboy..."

Akane, happy even despite the mild insult, hid her grin and hugged him tightly, saying, "I'm glad that you are home, even if you are a jerk. We all really missed you, you know?"

Ranma gave her a light hug back and said, "I missed you too, Akane..."

Akane blushed and smiled, happy that Ranma was finally home, then called out, "HEY GUYS! RANMA'S BACK...!

* * *

Kasumi smiled as she walked over to the Nekohanten; surprisingly enough, after the incident with that love mark...or whatever it was… Mousse had been awfully kind. Apparently, he had felt guilty and was truly sorry for what he had caused to happen to her, although she had forgiven him almost immediately, so he had offered to help her for a few days in return for the trouble he had caused. Although Kasumi wasn't the type of person to take advantage of anybody, she had certainly enjoyed talking with him as he had stayed nearby her regardless, and the two of them soon seemed to be on a fast track to a new and beautiful friendship. 'It is really too bad that Shampoo doesn't seem to like him the same way he likes her, for he is really quite sweet.'

As she walked inside, she decided to put down her shopping bags; Kasumi had taken to stopping by the Nekohanten after she was done shopping every day so that she could talk with Mousse a little. Cologne and Shampoo had been surprisingly kind about the fact that she was using his normal working hours to talk to him, and had even taken to letting her store her purchases in the refrigerator or freezer as needed while she talked with him. Upon seeing her enter, Mousse glanced over at Cologne, who nodded, before taking off his apron and hopping over to say, "Hello Miss Tendo."

Kasumi smiled brightly, then said, "Hello Mousse dear, it is nice to see you too. Just one moment please though." As he raised an eyebrow at her, Kasumi walked over to the kitchen and said, "Cologne dear, I am sure that Shampoo would be happy to hear that Ranma has returned from his journey."

Cologne was about to respond, when there was a loud crash from upstairs, and a clearly very tired, yet still beaming, Shampoo ran down them as fast as she could. Shampoo then looked around, and said excitedly, "Ranma's back!? Where!?"

Kasumi, amused at Shampoo's antics, said, "Shampoo dear, Ranma is currently back at our home. Would you like to go see...?" Shampoo had already left the Nekohanten before Kasumi could finish her interrogation, and for a moment, was visible jumping from rooftop to rooftop, as befitting a Martial Artist of her caliber.

Kasumi could tell that Mousse was about to jump out the door and go to the 'rescue' of Shampoo from 'THAT BEAST SAOTOME!', so she put a hand on his shoulder to let him know that she wanted to tell him something first; she smiled as he stopped and waited for her to speak. It made her feel a little jolt of pride to know that she was able to stop this man, who could probably break her in half without even trying, with just a touch on his shoulder. Kasumi, smiling still, then said, "Mousse dear, make sure that you stay calm when you go to rescue Shampoo from 'That beast Saotome!' If you don't, you might look a tad foolish."

She then gave him a hug for good luck, and watched as he took a pair of deep breaths before leaving, a nearly whispered "Thanks, Kasumi..." on the air behind him, causing Kasumi to sigh a little, before heading back herself...

* * *

Ryoga sighed; he had been so badly hurt by the battle with the Musk that, even with a slow return over the course of a week, he still felt a bit tired, so he had gone back to his house for some rest after letting Ranma know to tell Akane where he was, just in case she wanted to stop over. Unfortunately, he had realized that, when he wasn't practicing, his house didn't have much in it that was interesting. As such, his list of things to do was limited to reading a few choice manga, already dog-eared from having been read on countless hikes, or taking a nap. He had already done both for a couple of hours, and had finally decided to just go to sleep and give up on the whole boring day, even though it was only four o'clock in the afternoon, when he heard the front door open and Akane's voice calling, "Hello? Ryoga?"

Ryoga walked slowly over to the door, careful not to strain himself, while shouting back, "Hey Akane! What are you doing over here!?"

Suddenly, he turned the corner and almost crashed into the girl he had been talking to; Ryoga grabbed ahold of the wall to steady himself, then said, "Still, I am really glad to see you again..."

Akane smiled at him, then said, "Hey Ryoga, I know that it's a bit late and you're probably not hungry..." As if on cue, Ryoga's stomach rumbled, informing his brain that, yes, it had indeed been nearly eight hours since he had eaten last, "...Anyway, I made something for the two of us to eat." She had started giggling midway through the sentence at Ryoga's little gastronomical betrayal.

Ryoga tried to maintain a serious face for a moment, but ended up blushing and laughing with her for a few minutes, before he said, "Sure Akane, I would love to eat with you."

The two of them quickly went into the kitchen and made, what was for them, small talk as the food was warmed up in the microwave; Ryoga told Akane about the battle with Herb in great detail as, even though she had never been nearly as focused as himself or Ranma, she could certainly appreciate a well-described battle, while Akane told him about Mousse's little "Oops!" moment, where he had used some love-inducing magic fishing rod to make Kasumi fall in love with him, when he had really meant to hit Shampoo with it, causing Ryoga to laugh at Mousse's stupidity, even if he was angered at how he had caused Akane harm by 'hurting' her sister.

Soon the food was ready and, with a nod at the other, the two immediately started eating. 'Hmm, I think that Akane must have improved slightly from last time; the salty taste is a bit less than before...' Glancing up, he then noticed Akane's picking up her own food as she spit what she had put into her mouth onto a napkin, then she threw all of her food into the garbage, as Ryoga watched with a puzzled frown. She then said aloud,

"Darn it, and I thought that I had made some improvement that time..."

Ryoga, confused, asked, "What was wrong with your food?"

Akane sighed and looked down at the floor, before saying, "Ryoga, you promised me that you would stop pretending to like my food about a month ago. You don't have to act as if it is good. I know; I tasted it..."

Ryoga, even more confused than before, said, "But I am not pretending, it really is good."

Akane glared at him, then shouted, sounding close to tears, "Stop lying! I just had some and it reminded me of the time that I tried to eat out of the compost in mom's garden! It is NOT good!"

Ryoga's temper started to flare up, and he said angrily, "Akane, I am not lying. I actually do like it!"

At Akane's look of despair, Ryoga took matters into his own hands and, grabbing a spoonful of the soup, walked open and put it to her lips while holding her in place with his left arm. When she, to Ryoga's mind somewhat childishly, refused to open her mouth while glaring at him, he used his knee to hold her against the counter and squeezed her nose with his left hand, making her have to open her mouth to take a breath eventually. When she did, he slipped the spoon inside, causing her to start shouting angrily, until she paused and said, "Its...good? But...how?"

Ryoga shrugged, equally confused by the mystery as Akane was, but he said, "Akane, if YOU are still hungry, you can have my food..." Then he smiled a little, "...But only if you FINALLY forgive me!"

Akane, for some reason, looked surprised, then she said, "Um, what did you want me to forgive you for again?" As he collapsed to the ground in shock, she giggled, then said, "Sorry Ryoga, I was just kidding. I think I forgave you when you decided to drop everything to help Ranma, even if you had an ulterior motive, as you were at least honest about it."

Ryoga gave her a long-suffering glare, then said, "Still, you can have some of my food if you like..."

Akane grinned and nodded...

* * *

'He's back. He's back! HE'S BACK!' Shampoo raced as fast as she ever had in her attempt to get to the Tendo residence to see her airen; she suspected that she wouldn't have the energy to stay awake for long, but she didn't care, so long as she was able to see Ranma before she finally crashed, that would be alright with her.

'Nearly two weeks straight of constantly studying the village archives does NOT help one's energy level. UGH!' If she had been exhausted during her battle with Akane a week ago, that was nothing compared to how tired she was feeling now; she was worried that she would form permanent wrinkles from how her eyes were squinting all the time, and she could barely manage to keep herself awake each and every time she looked through each volume. She had made it all the way to the two-hundredth volume, and had managed to find a total of three rituals or items mentioned in the archives that could possibly cure Ranma of his curse-lock, but she was happy that it had turned out to be unnecessary.

Finally making it inside the Tendo residence, she saw Ranma sitting on one of the cushions in the living room, talking with the idiot duo about something which, at the moment, Shampoo could frankly care less about. She squealed with an "Aiyah!", then dashed in and gave Ranma a gigantic hug, saying happily, if a little thickly, "I am so glad that you made it home OK Ranma..."

Ranma, apparently not minding the hug so much due to it being a regular one as opposed to a glomp, something that Shampoo tried to file away for future reference, said quietly, "It's good to be back too Shampoo..." He then took a good look at her, and said quietly, "You look really tired; is Cologne making you work extra hours..."

Feeling sleepy, Shampoo said quietly, "No. I was just spending my days looking through the Joketsuzoku archives. Those are made up of a lot of really, really thick books and scrolls. I haven't been getting much rest, you see..."

Ranma looked like he was trying to say something, but Shampoo was unable to understand him, as she slowly fell down into his lap, everything going black. 'I guess that that really did take a lot out of me...'

* * *

Mousse had calmed himself down considerably thanks to his talk with Kasumi, and was ready to try dealing with the beast Saotome in an honorable, mature fashion, as befitting an Amazon warrior, but nothing prepared him to deal with the sight that lay before him. Shampoo was laying down, flat on her stomach, with her face buried in Ranma Saotome's lap as he sat down, blushing slightly, with his hands holding the top of her head in a manner clearly designed to force her to... 'HOW DARE THAT BEAST UNLEASH HIS PERVERTED WAYS UPON MY DARLING SHAMPOO!?'

Rage blazing like a volcano, Mousse shouted, "RANMA SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma pushed Shampoo off of him, then jumped up and said, "Wait Mousse! I wasn't doin' nothin'! I swear!"

Mousse snorted at Ranma's still poor Japanese, then said, "For once Saotome, I COMPLETELY agree with you! Now, DIE!"

Within three minutes, Mousse had managed to get himself knocked out, and Ranma's last words before Mousse had finally fallen unconscious were, "At least that was the sort of welcome I was expecting..."

* * *

"Hiyah!"

-HUFF- -HUFF- -HUFF-

Akane forced a smirk as Ryoga fired another barrage of bandannas at her. Even though he wasn't going anywhere near all out on their firepower, those things HURT if they hit. 'Hmmph! Too bad that they never will! Hiyah!' After their lunch, Akane had all but DRAGGED Ryoga outside so that she could show him the new katas and such that she had been working on, with the help of Mr. Saotome when she needed advice. For a moment, he had given that same smile he had given her the last time she had trained with him, then said that "Wow Akane, that was really well done. Of course, we'll have to see how you can do with those new moves in training..."

'Him and his big mouth...' After he had said that, of course, Akane had all but forced him to start training her, which he had done admirably, although he was limited to only throwing rocks and bandannas thanks to his still-recovering injuries. In order to force her to think rapidly on her feet, she had been given the task of having to block or parry every single bandanna, while having NONE of the rocks even graze her, something that would have been extremely challenging a couple of weeks ago.

However, although her speed hadn't improved in any really significant way, her constant kata training had increased her reflexes to the point that it seemed that her speed had increased by a great deal, making it so that this was merely somewhat difficult. As she was a martial artist and had pride, Akane decided to taunt Ryoga slightly, grinning wickedly, "You know Ryoga, I think that you must have slowed down in this past week, because I think I saw a little old man who was faster than you. Of course, he is awfully quick with that pipe of his..."

Ryoga stopped his barrage and glared at her, causing Akane to realize the massive _faux pas_ that she had made. Of course Ryoga was slower, because he had taken many injuries trying to help his rival get his curse unlocked; Akane was about to apologize, truly sorry, when Ryoga schooled his features into a feral grin, then said casually, "You know Akane, you might be right. This might indeed be too easy for you..." He slowly picked up a number of rocks lying on the ground and started playing with them casually, then continued, "...But if you are worried about THAT, I can deal with that problem quite handily..."

Akane had a very bad finger as he finished his little monologue, "...At the very least, it should make for a GREAT chance to test out this idea for a new attack that I had been considering... Now then, same rules as before; don't let any of the rocks touch you, while blocking all of the bandannas. Now then... Try...THIS! THE FURY OF THE AMERICAN HOLIDAY-GOER! 'PEBBLE FIREWORKS'!"

He suddenly hurled three of those rocks he had been holding, none of them at her, which caused her to suddenly have a very bad feeling...

**Author's Note: **FINALLY! I hope that you guys are as glad as I am now that I am done with the Herb arc! In addition, I have some news that I suspect you will like; if you view this story as something of a 'butterfly effect' type story, the butterflies have reached critical mass, causing SIGNIFICANT changes in all future story arcs, similar to what happened in this story's version of the reversal jewel arc. Henceforth, expect major changes from canon events, which I strongly hope that you will enjoy...

aondehafka: It does, but the way I always kinda figured it was, was the blast up is basically unfocused, nearly harmless energy, which then collects in the air before slamming back down in the giant pillar of energy we all know and love. As such, Herb didn't really notice the upward blast, although he CERTAINLY noticed the downward one!


	29. Return to Normalcy

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 29**

**Return to Normalcy**

_Normal in Nerima is the apocalypse anywhere else..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.**

_**The Next Day; Tuesday March 14, 1994**_

"Urgh! What the hell is 13X*32Y to the second power!? What kind of madman...other than the principal...designs these questions!?"

Ryoga cursed as he looked a his math make-up homework; he had managed to, somehow, pass the entrance exam to Furinken, perhaps because it was a relatively easy school to get into, but he was still the majority of the year behind and very rusty with the necessary skills. Although he had gotten the ability to make up all the homework and tests for the year, it wouldn't help much if he couldn't do it to begin with. Ryoga wasn't an idiot, but neither was he a genius in anything except the art of combat, so he was facing major problems indeed.

-SIGH-

'I guess I had better get going to the daily training session with Akane, as I don't seem to have anything better to do...' Even though his thoughts sounded depressed, Ryoga couldn't help but smile a small smile; He was very much impressed by Akane's recent improvements. Although she had been blasted into submission by a weak version of his new technique, she had managed to stand up to it for a couple of minutes, and she had handled the rest of his techniques with a fair level of ease, although his wounds, which were still hampering him slightly, had slowed him down some. Also, that new technique he had been planning to hit Ranma with once it had finished development, and it was quite a doozy.

'Heh-heh-heh, once I thought about it, it was so simple a child could do it...' Ryoga's new move, 'Pebble Fireworks', was made by taking his 'delayed breaking point', and simply applying it to thrown rocks; although each individual blast would be quite weak indeed against opponents of his, or Ranma's caliber, the combination would be quite impressive indeed. Although, even combined, the attack would be a fair bit weaker than his 'lion's roar blast', let alone the perfect version of it, it would fill a massive area with a cloud and shrapnel, making any speed advantages far less important as the target wouldn't be able to react until Ryoga was right on top of him/her. Another bright side was that the area was wide enough that dodging it would likely be impractical, although Ryoga was still sure that Ranma would eventually find a way around that as well.

Considering the sheer size of the blast, which Ryoga hadn't really been expecting when he tested it, it wouldn't be that good in training Akane in dodging or blocking though, at least not until she had increased in skill a great deal more. Even though she had gotten stronger, while Ryoga would probably give her better-than-even odds with Kodachi, at least outside of her chosen martial arts field, he would still bet on Ukyo or Shampoo to crush her every time. She just didn't have the strength, speed or stamina to keep up with either of those two at the moment, and, even though her training had brought up her reflexes significantly, she had only improved a bit in those other fields, leaving her far behind the other two teenage women martial artists.

'Nonetheless, I know of more than a few good ways to bring up one's speed, strength or stamina pretty quickly, especially if you have the help of a partner or teacher, and I would love to help her...'

Ryoga spent the rest of the trek to the Tendo residence thinking of ways to help move Akane along a bit faster, assuming she was willing to keep up the pace she had already set for herself. But, when he made it there, he was greeted by Kasumi, who said in response to his request to see Akane, "I'm sorry Ryoga dear, but they have gone to a movie together, courtesy of Father and Mr. Saotome, as today is White Day..."

Ryoga stumbled a little in his response, "W-White Day?"

Kasumi laughed lightly, then said, "Yes Ryoga dear, today is indeed the fourteenth of March, thus making it White Day."

"Uhhh, uhhh, thank you!"

Ryoga quickly hurried out the door, cursing himself for completely forgetting the day, or, more importantly, its significance. 'Now this could be a problem indeed...'

* * *

-VNNNNN-

Ukyo was busily cooking up a storm as usual for her customers, but to their surprise and interest, despite the fact that she was working constantly near a hot stove the whole time, she didn't have a drop of sweat on her; she looked like she had just come inside from a nice, quiet nap, even though she had been at it for hours. The reason for this was that she had finally figured out how to apply the 'soul of ice', and keep it going, without even paying any attention, other than just enough to keep a bit of her battle aura manifested. This meant that, the whole time, she was inside a protective bubble of cold chi energy, which meant that, to her, it was as if she was outside in the cool spring air, even standing right next to the oven.

'At this rate, I'll have the last part of the 'flying dragon ascension strike' training done in hours, at most!' While normally, according to Ranma, the 'body of ice' training required special body suits, the main purpose of that training was to get the 'soul of ice' to the point that it was easy to maintain, even in the midst of combat, causing Ukyo to point out to him that there were few things as stressful as the dinner rush in the Ucchan, especially after a more than week-long break. At that, Ranma had conceded that, after a while training under those conditions, she would probably be able to gain a similar level or proficiency. 'And the best part is that, even after I am done with the base training, I will have a new way to train during normal work hours! Although I will have already finished the 'flying dragon ascension strike' training, I am sure that there are at least a few moves I could create based off of the principles involved!'

All in all, Ukyo would have been happy to admit that she was positively giddy over the prospect of improvement at this level, for, although the most important things in the world to her were Ranma and okonomiyaki, the martial arts were certainly high up there, and it would help her with her number one goal by giving her a way to spend time with Ranma that didn't make him feel uncomfortable. 'Heh, that is the objective of all dates, and I almost missed it completely! This way, I don't have to fight for Ranma's attention at all, for, when it comes to the martial arts, you just have to say the words 'training' and 'sparring' and he will come running! It's too bad that I'm not the only one who seems to have discovered this...'

Sadly, Shampoo seemed to have figured it out as well, although Akane, while she was certainly training up a storm, if what Ranma had mentioned to Ukyo during lunch that day could be believed, seemed to have missed a trick this time, and was training almost exclusively with Ryoga, something that Ukyo was thrilled to hear, as it would make Ryoga happy, and, more importantly, keep Akane distracted.

'It is odd though; I know that Ryoga has trained Akane privately at least once or twice, but she hadn't ever really shown signs of being interested in continuing training after those times. I wonder what changed. Maybe Akane has fallen for Ryoga for some reason, and it just makes a good excuse or something? If so, then score one for Ryoga!' As she served up another two people, simultaneously, Ukyo's thoughts moved more directly to the topic of her relationship with Ranma, causing her to frown slightly.

'Hmm, the problem is that the good news and the bad news in my relationship with Ranma are the same thing; I just don't know where I have been standing with him ever since the Musk tribe incident.' It was quite odd, now that Ukyo came to think of it; until the...'hot springs situation', where Ranma looked like he might be having a breakdown, Ukyo had known that she stood as Ranma's best friend, something that was both helpful and harmful in quite a few ways. It was helpful in that it allowed her to get within 'striking distance' of him without having to go through too much effort, and harmful in that it caused Ranma to frequently delude himself into thinking her romantic gestures, which she wasn't the most skilled at anyway, were nothing more than friendly ones.

'It's that look in his eyes; I don't think that I've ever seen him quite with that look before when he was looking at me...' No, it wasn't a look of lust, passion or love, and it wasn't like his eyes were screaming "I've gotta have you!" like they did in movies, especially when the actors and actresses were very skilled, but it was like... 'A look of consideration, that's it.'

It wasn't like he was checking her out or anything like that, but it looked like he was trying to decide what he wanted to do; normally, Ukyo only saw that look when he was facing an opponent of extremely high caliber, in a battle that even he wasn't sure he could win. It signified that he was weighing everything in the balance, and that was what Ukyo saw nowadays when looked into Ranma's eyes when he was looking at her, like he didn't quite know what to do with her, and it had Ukyo both very hopeful, and very afraid, as the incident was the first time that she had actually said "I love you", rather than saying that she wanted him, and that was something that...

-CRASH-

Ukyo's thoughts were suddenly cut short by the sound of a beef bowl whizzing through her restaurant window, shattering it, only to come to a perfect stop on the counter in front of her...

_**

* * *

**_

One Day Later; Wednesday March 15, 1994

-WHAM- -WHAM- -WHAM-

Once again, Shampoo was finally working on her 'shatter-pulse' training, hoping to get it finished at last; although she had been forced to cancel ALL training, of any kind, during Ranma's journey so that she would have at least one or two ideas for undoing the curse-lock, something she managed to surpass, finding five methods in all, she had been so tired from simply working herself to the bone finding these methods that she had had to sleep for nearly two days straight after she had finally crashed, right in front of Ranma. Nonetheless, after performing a basic workout, Shampoo was ready to get her nose back to the grindstone, now that she had had a decent night's sleep or two.

She figured that, within a few hours, she would have the basic part of the technique mastered, and could already predict the vibration patterns within a few percentage point margin before she even hit the boulder she kept slamming herself into, plus, she could tell that her physical damage resistance, similar to Ryoga's after undergoing the 'breaking-point' training, had gone up a LOT. In comparison to last time, the hits from the boulder felt far lighter, although she knew that it was striking with the same force. 'Hmmph! Still have very far to go though, Panda Man is awfully strong, even if he is past his prime...'

However, she had concerns other than their eventual plans to remove Ranma from the Tendo residence, which would need a lot of care to make sure they didn't backfire completely anyway. One thing that had her particular interest was an ancient artifact located in a shrine in Eastern Japan, the 'Idiot's Wind', or _Kaze no Baka_. According to the passage she had found it in inside the archives, it was famous for its ability to dispel even the darkest of curses, and was named for the time that a band of thieves banded together to steal a gold statue, famous for its curse having killed hundreds of thieves.

The artifact, a crystal, came down from the sky, according to legend, and removed the curse from the thieves, who then fell off a cliff to their deaths in their surprise and stupidity. Nonetheless, it had been mentioned in the Joketsuzoku Archives as a possible way to cure a Jusenkyo curse, and, more importantly, was close enough to Nerima to be reached in the time necessary to go on a single training journey… say, alone with Ranma for example...

Shampoo grinned, and then noticed that she had reached the point necessary for her to call this stage of her training complete, the point where she could sense the vibrations running through the rock without even focusing on it. As such, she gathered her things up, and started walking back to the Nekohanten, humming a Joketsuzoku victory chant as she did so...

* * *

Akane picked moodily at her lunch, glaring as she watched Ukyo and Ranma busy fighting each other, because Ukyo had wanted to see if she had managed to pull off her 'Super-Ultra-Mega-Stupid-Attack!", or something along those lines. The two of them seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, which annoyed Akane, as she had been planning to have a nice, quiet lunch for once. 'Well, I suppose I got my wish...I just kinda expected that I might have been having it with someone else...' Then that annoying other voice whispered to her, 'Ranma...' causing her to mutter aloud, "Shut up."

'I do hope that no-one heard that... They might think that I am crazy...' She then sighed, thinking to herself, 'At least Ranma has a friend here with him; I wish that one of my friends were here, but noooo, they had to be 'trying to leave you and Ranma some couple time!', and now I am stuck here, sitting on my butt, eating a sub-standard lunch because Kasumi happened to be going to see a movie with this mysterious new friend of hers, with no friend in...Ryoga?'

Akane blinked, unsure that she wasn't seeing things. 'Either I'm seeing things, or yes, that is indeed Ryoga in a school uniform, studying by a tree...' She stared at him in shock for a moment, barely resisting the temptation to rub her eyes or pinch herself, and took a moment to observe her dear friend. 'Huh, he actually looks pretty handsome in that uniform; it shows his muscles to pretty good effect too, although that can't be said to be a surprise, considering it makes the Track stars of our school look pretty muscular, and they have nothing on the fitness level of Ryoga...'

Still, although she was mildly surprised as to how nice Ryoga looked in a school uniform, it had nothing on her surprise at seeing him in HER school uniform that day. While he had told her about his being transferred to her school, that information had been rather overshadowed by the events of the past couple of weeks, and she had completely forgotten about it. Deciding that she had better things to do than stare at Ranma's constant flirting with his 'Just best friends!' Ukyo, Akane walked over to where Ryoga was sitting, and asked him how he was doing, causing him to start in surprise, which made her laugh a bit, although probably not for the same reason he thought. 'I can't believe I didn't figure it out ages ago; he acts so much like P-chan sometimes, at least, in body language.'

Meanwhile, Ryoga asked, clearly nervous, "So...Akane, what's up?"

Akane smiled at the look on his face, and then remembered the chocolates that Kasumi had given her last night, claiming that they were from Ryoga...

* * *

"Huh, huh, huh..."

"Nice one Ucchan!"

Ukyo could only nod in reply to Ranma's breezy compliment, after having been shown quite clearly the difference between her own skill, and the skill of the boy she was engaged to; she knew that she was far from a weak fighter and, in just about any other city in Japan, she would have been considered one of the top two or three at worst, but she was unable to breathe without gasping, and Ranma had barely even started breathing hard. 'Ugh, I guess that I still have a LONG way to go before I can even make the fights interesting unless he holds back a bunch. Still, at least I am able to fight with him and spend time with him, and it's incredibly good training...'

After several training sessions with Ranma, plus what she remembered from her times practicing with him as children, she realized that Ranma's method of training was similar to the horse-rider who puts a carrot on a fishing pole, and sticks it out in front of it. Even in training, he would always seem just out of reach, pushing the person he was training with to strive harder just to keep up with him, only for him to be just out of reach of her at her skill level, but it was worth it as, like the horse, she would eventually end up chasing the carrot until she found that she was far beyond where she had started. Suddenly though, she was diverted from her philosophical musings by Ranma's talking.

"So Ucchan, how's about a beef okonomiyaki? I'm starved!"

Chuckling at how Ranma so often thought only with his stomach, Ukyo teased him a little, saying in a normal tone and with a straight face, "One moment, I let Akane do the cooking today, as she hasn't gotten a chance to cook for you for so long, I felt a little bad for her..." Giggling at the look of sheer horror on Ranma's face, Ukyo said, "...Don't worry Ranma! I was just teasing you. Here, let me whip up a pair of them, one for each of us..."

He seemed to have been struck dumb for a bit, so Ukyo just got right to it, but she began to get worried when she noticed him continuing to stare in the same direction for more than a minute; following his gaze, she sighed as she realized that he was staring at Akane and Ryoga. She walked slowly around so that she could get a good look at Ranma's face, which had an annoyed look on it as he stared fixedly at the two of them. 'Just great, he's jealous...'

If this had been the first time, or even the tenth time, that this had happened, then Ukyo probably would have walked off in disgust, but she had come to terms with how Ranma got jealous of Ryoga when Akane was involved a while ago, and had figured that, even if he got jealous of her, jealousy wouldn't keep a relationship going. She had been thrilled when her father had asked her at the age of six if she wanted to get engaged to Ranma, not because she had wanted to keep him away from all the other girls, but because she figured that, that way, she could stay near him forever. Unfortunately, that had changed as she had gotten older, and she had found out about all the other girls who wanted to get their paws on him. 'Huh, maybe I should have remembered a little bit more of why I had wanted to marry him in the first place...'

Although she understood how Ranma could get jealous at the scene before him, which Ukyo had to admit was quite cute, consisting of both Ryoga and Akane sitting down by a tree, eating lunch together and going over the same book, shoulder-touching-shoulder, that didn't mean that she wanted to ruin her lunch, and likely Ranma's, by letting him get incredibly jealous, so she executed the countermeasure she had developed long ago, and had been hoping to find a reason to do for nearly two weeks. She slowly put her hands close to his shoulders, and then whispered, "Kuonji School Secret Technique! Instant Laughing Death Strike!"

Unlike Ranma's own tickle-based attack, which relied on his speed to achieve nearly full-body tickle coverage, Ukyo's version aimed at two targets, his armpits, and saturated them with both tickling pressure point strikes and normal tickles. This caused Ranma to be unable to breathe, he was laughing so hard, but it certainly did distract him from Ryoga and Akane...

* * *

As the students of Furinken high ate their lunch, studied and, in certain cases, attempted to beat each others' brains out, a dark, evil man in a office in a...building of some sort, made from pine trees and other tropical fauna, received a letter, saying simply,

_Dear Mr. Kuno_

_I will be there tomorrow._

_Hinako Ninomiya_

**Author's Note: **After nearly three weeks off, I have finally returned! I hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter, a mixture of new material and old content. After setting up the dates used in the fic, I noticed one small difference between the dates I used, and canon, so I suppose that you can consider this AU because of that, but it shouldn't make a difference in any real way.

For those of you who aren't versed at all in Japanese culture, probably a very short number of you, given your interest in at least some forms of manga or anime, White Day takes place in Japan, exactly a month after Valentine's day; in it, boys give girls they know chocolate and gifts of either a "I love you" variety, or a "Because we know each other" variety, more or less. This is why Ryoga could give Akane chocolate without it being interpreted immediately as an "I love you!", like it would in the U.S., or other similar countries.


	30. Hinako's Arrival

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 30**

**Hinako's Arrival**

_Ranma! For cheating on Akane with a ten-year old, YOU SHALL PERISH...!_

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma ½ or Street Fighter II.**

_**Wednesday March 15, 1994**_

"So Ranma, I've started to hear a few rumors about this...new teacher who is coming to the school; I wonder what she will be like..."

"Eh, it shouldn't matter much; all of them seem to be the same, giving out boring homework, stupid tests, etc."

"Hmmph, if might help if you worked a little harder Ranma..."

"Hey, I work plenty hard! But, I have a lot, and I mean a LOT of stuff to take care of, so a place where I can rest without anyone trying to marry me, kill me, get revenge on me for someone else wanting to marry me, or all three simultaneously, is very much appreciated in my book!"

Akane sighed as she and Ranma walked back home, chatting amiably about the day; although she didn't care much for how he barely put even the slightest effort, she had to admit that he DID have a point. 'All the same though, I wish that he would get serious about this stuff, I mean, Ryoga is very far behind, and he is working his butt off to catch up, while Ranma just sleeps through half of his classes. Not only that, but Ryoga said that he will still be making time to train with me every single day while he is doing it. Oh well, I guess some people just enjoy wasting the opportunities that they have been offered for a few moments of sleep...'

"Alright, but at least make sure that you get a good enough grade that you don't get held back a year; if you need help, my door is open you know..."

"Sure Akane..."

-DING-DING-

-WHAM-

"Ranma? Where did you...oops! Sorry about that Ranma!" Shampoo had managed to successfully crash into Ranma for about the twentieth time, something which was quite ironic considering that she could ride on power-lines if it proved necessary. Clearly chagrinned, she nonetheless hoisted the bike off of him and gave him a hug, and, since Akane couldn't see, probably a quick grope, causing Akane to start talking, incensed at the likely perversion,

"Get the hell off of each other! Honestly, its like you're making up for lost time! Perverts!"

Shampoo glared at her for a moment, then, with a sneer, said, "Considering who is talking, I think that that isn't much of an insult."

As Ranma slowly backed away from them both, Akane shouted, "What!? What does that mean!?"

Shampoo laughed lightly, then said, "Considering that it is Pervert Girl talking, I doubt that what you are saying means much..."

Akane was considering testing out her new training on Shampoo, eager to see if she could match her when she wasn't exhausted, but Shampoo had already turned towards Ranma, and started speaking again, "Ranma, do you think that you could stop by the Nekohanten tomorrow, after your school is complete? I was hoping that we could get started on...what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago..."

Ranma frowned, then an "OH!" expression appeared on his face, and he said with a grin, "Sure Shampoo, that would be okay. See you at four or something?"

Akane was shocked at Ranma's quick and easy acceptance, when Shampoo smiled and said, "That's fine! See you then!" Shampoo then left, riding up the street at speeds that Akane still couldn't match, nor could quite a few cars. Akane then whirled around and glared at Ranma, fear at what was going on causing her heart to beat extremely rapidly. She was about to say something, but Ranma beat her to the punch.

"Don't worry Akane, it's really nothing to worry about, trust me on this... I'll be fine! I really can't tell you what it is though..."

Akane wondered what it was about, but if he really asked her to trust her on this, then maybe, just maybe it would be all right. 'Besides, if worst comes to worst, I can always ask Nabiki what is going on.' Based on the fact that she had managed to find out what Mousse, in a nearly deserted street, had said, keeping an eye on Ranma and Shampoo at the Nekohanten probably wouldn't be TOO rough, or expensive for Akane's pocketbook. As such, she said, forcing a teasing tone into her voice,

"Alright, but you HAVE to get to your homework tonight in return, or you can't play with your little Amazon friend!"

"Aw man..."

_**

* * *

**_

The Next Day Thursday March 16th, 1994

"So Akane...how have things been going with you?" Ukyo asked Akane nonchalantly, trying to keep her from putting her guard up so she could fish; while Ukyo was mildly perturbed to say the least at how Ranma had dragged off the teacher, looking excited, after she had knocked out Happosai in one strike, she knew that Akane was the same way, and that made this an opportunity that she couldn't pass up.

"Uh, fine I suppose." Replied Akane, rather distracted, causing Ukyo to smile a little maliciously, seeing that she was vulnerable.

Ukyo then said casually, "How has Ryoga been doing? Has the moron managed to finally get himself a girlfriend?" Ukyo then realized that it seemed that a fair proportion of the female students of the class were listening in now, as apparently they were interested in picking up a boyfriend, and, Ukyo supposed, for girls who didn't mind a certain...idiocy, he could be an OK catch.

At that, Akane frowned a little, seeming to think, then said, a little unsurely, "Not that I am aware of, I mean, he hasn't told me of any girls that he is interested in..."

Suddenly one of the girls, Sakura if Ukyo recalled correctly, shouted, "Hey Akane, are you actually saying that because you don't know, or because he is your secret boyfriend!? I heard that you and Ranma split up about a week ago!"

For a moment, Ukyo's heart leapt, but then she remembered that a week ago placed it during her trek with him to restore his manhood, so she SEVERELY doubted it. Still, it was a useful question, and Akane might be more honest with them than she would with a fellow fiancée; in the end, Akane frowned and said calmly, "No, I am not dating him, and any rumors involving me and Ranma are a load of garbage."

Ukyo then proceeded to sneak back behind a couple of the students, and attempted to fake a different voice, banking on the interest of her fellow classmates to cover her question up, "So, since you spend a lot of time with him, you would know what sorts of girls he would like, RIGHT?"

"Yeah! What would he like in a girl Akane!?"

"Ooh! Come on, tell us!"

Akane started to flush red, probably from anger, then said, "I don't think that that's any of your business! If he had any girls that he likes, that is something that is not for you to know! I am not going to be used to set up my best friend with any of you!"

'Ahah! Now this is something! Since when has Akane called Ryoga her 'best friend'?' Ukyo was about to see if she could pry some more, when suddenly one of the other people in the classroom, all girls, as the boys had all left by now, not remotely interested in the topic of discussion, said aloud, "I'll bet that its Yukari! I saw Ryoga hanging around with her yesterday, and she is kinda pretty, if you like the type..."

"Who's she again?"

"Eh, some girl in class 1-E, long red hair, not much of a sense of fashion, or feminity..."

"Oh her! I remember her!"

Akane seemed very uncomfortable then, and stalked out of the room, which made Ukyo's grin widen slightly as she left as well, both because it was lunch, and because Akane's reaction was quite unusual for her. Although Akane had never been really interested in MAKING gossip, she certainly didn't mind listening to it, or the gossipmongers talking about boys, so her reaction meant that, for whatever reason, she didn't want to hear gossip about what sort of girl Ryoga was interested in, as it made her uncomfortable… meaning that perhaps, just maybe, Ryoga had a shot after all of winning her heart. 'Hmmph, I can't say I care much about which girl that the moron is interested in, but if he can get Akane out of the running, more power to him!'

She then smiled as she saw Ranma walk in, hoping that perhaps she could find out what was up with him as well, as his behavior with the teacher had been quite strange indeed. 'Let's see, that takes care of most of my checklist for the day; all that's really left is dealing with the crisis of the day, and then tomorrow I will be beating up that Beef Bowl King Cole who stopped by yesterday. I am gonna make him pay dearly! My windows cost quite a bit of time and money to repair, as my shop is in Nerima after all! Why the hell did he have to throw that beef bowl THROUGH the window!?'

Ukyo hoped that, like last time, Cole would be a pretty good challenge, as, between her training with Ranma, and having to fight people like the Musk tribe and the local Nerimans, she had improved a great deal from the last time that they had thought...

* * *

"Ah come on! This is getting ridiculous!"

"Clearly Ranma, your skill at fighting doesn't include games..."

"Are you trying to rub it in!?"

"Hehe, I believe that I am! At least I am better than my airen in videogames, even if not in real fighting. Still, you are awfully slow..."

"NO! NO! NOOOOO!!!"

"YES! Spinning Bird Kick! Ha-HA!"

Ranma and Shampoo were, as they had planned, trying to find new moves to add to their styles by seeing what videogames had to offer; although the games frequently were so far from the actual martial arts as to be ridiculous, it didn't mean that they couldn't generate new ides. 'Besides...' Shampoo giggled a little. '...Beating Ranma up really is a lot of fun! And he looks so cute when he is pouting too!'

Shampoo then decided to tease Ranma a little, after beating his Ryu with her Chun-Li in Street Fighter II. She said, mock-seriously, "Don't worry Ranma, it's OK if you aren't the best in some things... I mean, everyone has something that they are awe-inspiringly pathetic in! It just so happens that your something is martial arts fighting games!"

Ranma glared at her, battle aura glowing somewhat, then gave her an evil grin and said, "I'll bet you that I will win this time! Too slow, HA! This time, I will use my secret Saotome clan techniques!"

"You are on! You are no match however for Shampoo's might!"

"That's what you think!"

They then started again, only for Shampoo to find to her surprise that, for some reason, she was unable to fight back, literally, as her character simply wouldn't move. Looking down, she saw that the cord to her controller had somehow been removed from its socket, and she quickly hopped off her bed and put it back in, only to hear the television announcing her defeat. Annoyed at Ranma's sudden cheering, she said, "Hey! That doesn't count! My controller wasn't plugged in!"

Ranma only grinned wider, then said, "Of course it wasn't, I used the Saotome School Secret Technique: 'Plug-removing instantaneous strike'!"

At this, Shampoo raised her eyebrows, then said in a deadpan tone of voice, "That isn't a real technique of your school, is it?"

He chuckled, then said, smirking, "Does it really matter Shampoo?"

Hiding a smirk, Shampoo started fake-crying, as she quickly tossed a pen left over from her week of studying the archives at one button on the television, then quickly started pressing buttons on her controller as she wailed, somewhat melodramatically, "I can't believe -SOB- that my airen could -WAH- be so evil and cruel, like Pig Boy-SOB-!"

Ranma, at a loss, started flailing his arms and saying, "Aw, come on Shampoo! It wasn't that bad! Please don't cry..."

Shampoo then turned her face back to his, not a tear in sight, but a wide grin there, and said, "You are right, but your defeat certainly was bad..."

Ranma then looked at her, clearly puzzled, and said, "My defeat?"

Shampoo nodded toward the television, which showed that she had just won the round in a landslide, which caused Ranma's mouth to gape open, only for Shampoo to whisper in his ear "Mute button...", then laugh lightly.

Ranma, after a few moments of gaping, then started to laugh as well. 'Hehe...that's my airen...'

Then he looked at the clock and grimaced, clearly disappointed, saying, "Ugh, I'd better get going, let's do this again some time, although not tomorrow; I gotta meet Hinako then..."

Shampoo felt a freezing sensation somewhere in her upper chest, then asked "Hinako?", only for Ranma to reply, "Yeah! She's my new home-room teacher, probably like twenty-six or something, long hair, great martial artist, etc.; I asked for her to meet me tomorrow night! Well, I'd better get going, it's getting pretty late..."

As Ranma left, alarms were blaring in Shampoo's head, and she felt her heart taking critical damage...

_**

* * *

**_

The Next Day Friday March 17th, 1994

"Hmm..."

Ryoga glared at the teacher, annoyed at yet another thing that he had said that he couldn't understand, but made a note of it anyway, as it would be good for when he studied with Akane or...

"Psst! Ryoga!"

...Her; the girl whispering to him, a redhead by the name of Yukari, had apparently decided to take him under her wing ever since he had joined the class as, in her words, "A musclebound thug like you has to learn SOMETHING in school!", and, like Akane, she had started giving him pointers when he was struggling, because "As much fun as it is to watch you struggle, try this, moron."

Realizing she had just said the last thing aloud, Ryoga glared at her, causing her to giggle a little, then made the correction as suggested. 'I really, REALLY hate her...especially when she is right. How a girl as annoying and unfeminine as her could exist, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, she's worse than Ranma! And he's a guy!'

The comparison was fairly apt, as, in addition to the similarly colored hair, Yukari had a similar zeal for making his life miserable, yet helping him...somehow. She wasn't awful looking, but she wore her hair long and in a ponytail, wearing the same blue shirt day in and day out, at least from what Ryoga had seen. Either that, or she had a closetful of the same shirt. She seemed to be fairly athletic, although nothing more than an amateur by Ryoga's standards, and those of his acquaintances, but she seemed to spend most of her time being loud and annoying, like how she had just yelled "EARTH TO RYOGA!".

Reflexively, Ryoga then shouted, "CURSE YOU RANMA!"

"My name's 'Yukari'! You IDIOT! Besides, class is over!"

Realizing that it was time to leave for the day, Ryoga was about to bolt, hoping that, at least once in two days, he might escape this infuriating...person, who he hesitated to call a girl, before she basically attached herself to him, when she suddenly said, "Besides, Ranma has already left, something about a date with a teacher or something, Hikari Ninobiyo or something like that."

For a moment, Ryoga stood stock-till, then his battle aura started to blaze like a bonfire, and he shouted louder than before, "CURSE YOU RANMA SAOTOME! FIRST UKYO! NOW THIS HIKARI!? HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON AKANE!?"

As he dashed away, seeming to have rockets attached to his feet, he heard Yukari mutter to herself, "OK, Ranma is clearly a bit of a hot-button issue..."

* * *

Akane felt sick watching Ranma and Hinako going out on their date; even though he had told her that he had a good reason, it still felt painful watching him buy her a balloon, give her his coat, etc. 'Ironic, he can apparently be quite the gentleman, yet I never get to experience it. I wonder why he is acting like this though, I mean, she isn't bad looking, but I clearly have a better body, even when she is in her adult form, he has no obligation towards her, and she isn't expressing the slightest bit of interest towards him, so why is he practically falling all over himself to get her to like him?'

Then she remembered the obvious reason. 'Of course! How could I forget!? It doesn't matter to perverts if a woman is interested in them, only that they have the right...parts. As Ranma is the king of perverts, its no wonder that he would act like this! Still, I had thought that...maybe, just maybe, he had started to change, and perhaps I could trust him. I guess that I was mistaken...'

Akane was still ruminating sadly over her misconceptions about Ranma, when a wall nearby Ranma and Hinako suddenly exploded, leaving Ryoga standing there, panting, as his battle aura clearly demonstrated that he was in a state of rage, then he shouted, "Ranma! How dare you cheat on Akane like this!?"

As Ranma and Hinako looked a him quizzically, Ryoga then looked at Hinako, then back to Ranma, and his face turned positively green, before he shouted, "I stand corrected! How dare you still be BREATHING!? RANMA SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma, who had followed Ryoga's gaze, turned green as well, as he yelled, "Oh YUCK! Ryoga! I am not...YUCK!" He was about to dodge Ryoga, when Hinako suddenly shouted,

"Ah! A delinquent I see...!" Then she made a series of motions with a small coin in her hands, and shouted, "Good Child Exercise 1! Eight Treasures of the Deadly 5-Yen Piece!"

Ryoga seemed to be surprised for a moment, then his battle energy was visibly ripped from him, similar to what had happened to Happosai, and he collapsed, motionless, onto the ground, as Hinako returned to her adult form. Akane then shouted aloud, "RYOGA!"

Akane then rushed over towards her friend, worried, as the last time, she had reduced Happosai into a floating shadow of himself, and brushed Ranma aside, causing him to fall backwards towards Hinako. As she checked Ryoga over, worried, Hinako shivered, and her face went a little pink...

**Author's Notes: **For those wondering about Ryoga's strange (for him) reaction of seeing Ranma with Hinako, remember, he hasn't seen Hinako in either form yet, and she is currently in child-form...If that wouldn't provoke him into a rage, I don't know what would. Akane is more confused about Hinako than in canon because, quite frankly, even the beauty that Hinako has isn't as impressive as Akane's after her wish, and Ranma has no official or unofficial ties to the child-woman.

Yukari is, obviously, an Original Character, and unlike Aijou, she will be sticking around. She won't be stealing the show by any means, but expect her to have some fairly important moments...

As for the review sent by 'The Gandhara', asking why Ranma and Ukyo are behaving so normal, after that kiss. Remember, Ranma, in canon, has received at least one official love confession from Ukyo, and knows for a fact that Shampoo loves him, and probably suspects that Akane does as well, yet he hasn't gone into a real romantic questioning mode. It just isn't his style to show his feelings a lot, so, regardless of how he feels about Ukyo's kiss/confession, after a week to deal with it, he probably would have internalized it easily enough.


	31. Concern and Disappointment

**Choices and Consequences**

**Chapter 30**

**Concern and Disappointment**

_I thought they had changed..._

**Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma ½.**

_**Friday March 17, 1994**_

"CURSE YOU RANMA!"

Ryoga roared as he slowly walked over to the Tendo house and dojo, taking his time to sort through things and get his fury at Ranma under control. Not only had the cad been openly cheating on Akane with another woman, who he had just met a couple of days ago, but it was his homeroom teacher of all things. 'If I AM losing Akane to Ranma, then I am not going to lose to a cheating cad...WAIT A MINUTE! I am NOT losing her to Ranma!' He decided to stop that particularly painful train of thought, and focused anew on how he was going to break the news to Akane, about how Ranma was cheating on her. As he pictured the look of anguish he knew that he would soon be seeing on Akane's face, he then whispered, anger audible in his tone,

"Curse you Ranma...How could you hurt Akane like this?" Then he roared aloud again, "HOW COULD YOU!?"

Ryoga knew to himself that, unlike almost all of Ranma's suitors had for their pursuit of the cad, he had no real claim on Akane beyond that of his own heart, but he had no intention of giving up nonetheless. He knew that it was dishonorable, but he had planned to take her from him, whatever the cost, and hadn't felt even remotely guilty about it, so maybe he should be feeling grateful for this, as he now had the perfect reason to take her from him, but he had never had any intention of doing it like this. He had always pictured himself somewhat like the stereotypical honorable barbarian, who was to defeat his foes through sheer will and determination, and would have claimed his worthy prize as he deserved.

'I want her so much...but not like this, not really, as this will hurt her so much...' Ryoga sighed, continuing to walk slowly, then the Tendo residence came into view, and he looked dismally at the door, before knocking it slowly. As Kasumi answered the door with her usual smile, he asked with dread,

"Is Akane here?"

Kasumi only continued to smile, saying, "Yes, she is out by the koi pond Ryoga dear. Have a good evening."

He could only reply dully as she walked away, "Thanks, you too..."

He then slowly plodded out back, where Akane was already stretching with a small smile on her face, clearly preparing for the rough training to come. He had found, to his delighted surprise, that the harder she was pushed, the harder she seemed to try; normally, seeing her like this would bring a swelling of pride to him, but his news prevented him from feeling any enjoyment from the sight before him. Swallowing, he then said, "Akane, we need to talk..."

Frowning, she followed him as he guided her away from the koi pond over to where he was sure that they wouldn't be disturbed, then he said, voice cracking slightly, "U-um, Akane, Ranma'sbeencheatingonyouwithHinako!" He said the last part so fast that he was surprised that she understood him. He was even more surprised by her small smile, as she then said with a chuckle,

"Thanks for letting me know Ryoga, but Ranma already told me; he isn't actually dating her, but just wants to learn a new technique from her, so he is trying to butter her up. Frankly, I am more worried about her molesting him, rather than him trying to cheat on me with her. You see..." She drew closer to him conspiratorially, making Ryoga's pulse race and his face flame in the gathering gloom, "...Shampoo, Kodachi and I all saw her blushing after she knocked you out, but Ranma pointed out to me that he has no interest in either 10-year olds or twenty something-year olds, so I am more worried about her than about him..."

Ryoga frowned, then said, trying not to get distracted by her close proximity, although he already felt a bit light-headed, "Are you sure?"

Akane then said with a smirk, "Hinako is a bit scatter-brained, giving her only her beauty to work with, and with two beautiful girls engaged to him, and one who he described as cute, she doesn't have that good of a chance without an honor claim, at least in my opinion..." She then frowned and said, "...I would have been a lot more concerned, I have to admit, but he went alone with you and Ukyo to fight Herb and nothing happened, so I doubt that there is anything to worry about."

At that, Ryoga felt like he was forgetting something important, then said before he could stop himself, remembering something, "Oh! Ukyo said that she kissed Ranma before our final battle with Herb and his Musk..." At Akane's look of hurt, he quickly said, "I'm sorry! I forgot about it completely! I would have told you if I remembered!"

Akane only looked at him, eyes widening slowly in horror...

* * *

"Ahhh..."

Ukyo relaxed happily, doing a crossword puzzle, after her battle with the Beef Bowl king; the memories of the battle made her grin as she thought of them.

_Flashback:_

_"So Ukyo, are you prepared to face your complete and total defeat at the hands of the mighty king of Beef Bowls!?" Said a tall boy with short dark hair, in a version of Ukyo's okonomyaki seller's uniform, but bright green and with a picture of his grinning face, with a thumbs up, emblazoned on it, front and back. Quite frankly, he looked rather ridiculous in Ukyo's eyes, but the last time that they had fought, it had been a very close draw, and Ukyo swore not to underestimate him._

_Ukyo sighed, but couldn't suppress a smirk as she said, "You know, COLE, your title is even worse than your name; just wondering, does the ego grow with the length of the title, or is it the other way around? Either way, prepared to be dethroned, 'Queen'!"_

_"THAT'S 'KING'!" Cole roared as he dashed at her, hurling a pair of his beef bowl bombs so that the explosion might hit her from both sides, which, not wanting that to happen, Ukyo blocked by throwing a pair of her spatulas at said bombs, causing them to explode long before they reached her. However, this merely created a lot of smoke, which the Beef Bowl King used as concealment for a moment, before suddenly bursting out of it, a large spit in hand, aiming for a direct strike at her left arm, which she shifted to the right to avoid, before doing a counter-swing with her combat spatula. _

_-CLANG-_

_"Urk!" Cole had managed to block the hit mostly, but it still clearly hurt, and Ukyo was prepared to follow up immediately by dashing past him, spinning her spatula around to aim for a strike at his back. He ducked it and tried to perform a sweep, but she simply continued her dash and jumped over it, laughing slightly as he roared in anger, then sprung up and followed her, only to practically run into one of her throwing spatulas she had almost casually tossed back._

_As he recovered, Ukyo planted the handle of her spatula on the ground and laughed, saying, "Cole, is this all you have? I mean, you're almost as weak as Kodachi...Nevermind. You might as well give up now!"_

_He roared back, rage filling his face, "SHUT UP! I WILL DEFEAT YOU! TRY THIS! 'SERVING THE LUNCH CROWD AT ONCE! BEEF BOWL BOMB BARRAGE'!" He then hurled what looked like thirty or forty of his beef bowl bombs, which caused a large explosion indeed._

_-BOOM-_

_He smirked, but his eyes widened and his smirk froze as Ukyo emerged from the smoke, barely even a scratch on her, and whispered in horror, "How?"_

_Ukyo returned his smirk with one of her own, then said lightly, but with a certain nastiness to it, "The problem with those barrage-type attacks, is that, if the barrage is partially blocked before it reaches the target, then, if done right, you can have the barrage all but block itself. Now then... PREPARE YOURSELF!"_

_She aimed a short volley of throwing spatulas at him, which he blocked by spinning his spit to create a shield, but that was a bad idea for countering the okonomiyaki bomb she had thrown as a follow-up, which exploded right in his face. He was sent flying back, barely regaining control of his landing before he crashed into a wall, but Ukyo's 'yakisoba noodle rope' had him tied up before he could react, and she proceeded to pound him with her spatula until he was unconscious. She then said aloud, surprised it had been so easy, "I guess he must have been slacking off..."_

_End Flashback:_

In comparison to the last time they had fought, Ukyo's speed, strength and skill had all increased, in comparison to his, to the point that, rather than it being a close fight, any fight between the two of them would, almost inevitably, be a blowout, which made Ukyo feel quite proud. 'Even if I haven't won Ranchan yet from the rest of the competition, the fighting and training have REALLY shown, as, now that I think about it, he did seem faster and stronger than the last time we fought.

Ukyo was still smiling as Shampoo banged on the door, yelling, "Spatula Girl! We need to talk! NOW!" Ukyo sighed at this, then padded over to the door, opened it, and said,

"Yes?"

Shampoo said gravely, "There is a new girl after Ranma, some pervert-teacher, Hinako..."

Ukyo interrupted, recognizing the name as that of her new homeroom teacher, "Isn't she like 27 or so?"

Shampoo nodded, and Ukyo began to see why Shampoo was looking like...She was disgusted and appalled, something which Ukyo had never seen on her face to her recollection, even when looking at Kodachi...

_**

* * *

**_

The Next Day Saturday March 18, 1994

Akane left the Tendo residence at the crack of dawn, long before Ranma and his father were planning to get up; she needed to see Ukyo IMMEDIATELY. While, when Ryoga had told her about Ranma's little kiss with Ukyo, her first inclination had been to pound Ranma into next week, preferably Friday of said week, she had gotten to thinking. While Akane was pretty sure that Ryoga was being completely honest about what he had heard, as he seemed to have her best interests at heart when he wasn't going out of control with anger or something, she also knew that Ukyo had plenty of reasons to lie, and had frequently used Ryoga as a tool in the past, for no reason which Akane could think of.

'OK, first let's see what Ukyo has to say, and see if she can provide proof in any way, then, if she is telling the truth, Ranma will have a close encounter with the ground, six or seven times... I would ask Ranma, but regardless of whether or not Ukyo is telling the truth, he would just deny it, and that would be that.' Akane shivered, wishing she had had the foresight to bring a jacket, as she walked to the Ucchan.

It wasn't so much that she would believe Ukyo any more than Ranma, but that Ranma always would say something that was so insane that she knew it couldn't be true, except when it was. 'I mean, who would expect a strange, Chinese girl to walk into our house, get knocked out, then try to marry the person who knocked her out? At least Ukyo doesn't have strange and stupid reasons for what she does...'

Her thoughts were brought to a halt when she arrived at the Ucchan, which was closed. However, Akane was in too much of a hurry to particularly care, after all, this was about whether or not the person she was engaged to was cheating on her or not. As such, Akane proceeded to bang on the door with enough force to be just short of breaking it, while yelling for Ukyo. A few minutes later, she heard the chef say something along the lines of "I'm coming, I'm coming...", then Ukyo, in a bathrobe, but still carrying her combat spatula opened the door and glared at her, saying, "Akane Tendo! It is 6:30 on a Saturday morning! I TRULY hope that you have a good reason for bothering me at this hour, or you will get to 'enjoy' a few hits from my spatula for wasting my time!"

Akane was a tad frightened for a moment, as she suspected that she was still outclassed by the chef, even in her bathrobe, but she swallowed and said angrily, "I'm SO sorry Ukyo, but I need to talk to you about something that you told Ryoga happened while you were on that journey with Ranma..." She breathed in deeply, then continued, eyes glaring at the tomboyish girl, "...He claimed that you kissed Ranma, and I would like to know if he was cheating on me, as that...would be rather embarrassing..."

The silence stretched for nearly a minute, with Ukyo looking her over, as if trying to decide something, then the chef-girl said wearily, "I did kiss Ranma, but he seemed to be in a mental breakdown, so I doubt he could have stopped me if he had wanted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some SLEEP today of all days!"

Akane smiled and said "Sorry for disturbing you Ukyo. Have a nice day!"

She started to walk off, when the chef suddenly said something that, quite frankly, surprised her. In a voice filled with anger, Ukyo then shouted, "And by the way, Akane! It is none of your business if Ranma and I WERE kissing, making out, or even having sex! He and I ARE engaged after all! As much as you may dislike hearing it, it isn't cheating, as he and I have the same exact relationship as you and he do, maybe more because of the stupid dowry! So, the next time that you hear that Ranma and I ARE doing something, don't bug me at 6:30 in the morning on the weekend!"

Akane, still stunned, could only walk away, wondering what had Ukyo so angry...

* * *

Hinako frowned as she left the school; although it was the weekend, she had had to make sure that the gym had all the necessary materials for the games she was planning on having the girls and boys play the coming Monday. She had also needed to check them thoroughly, and had taken several of these materials home for further testing...

"Ball! WHEEE!"

Performing a careful analysis of the ball's speed and rotational capabilities while following it closely, Hinako was rather surprised when she heard a voice saying, with a touch of confusion, "Ms. Ninomiya, if you are done with that ball, we would like to have a word with you..."

Turning her head, Hinako quickly put her hand in her pocket, grabbing a five-yen piece just in case it turned ugly. She saw two girls and...a boy? Hinako couldn't quite be sure, but she could have sworn that she saw him/her in her class, Ukyo or something. Then she remembered a conversation that she had had with another one of her students earlier today, a rather strange conversation...

_Flashback:_

_Hinako was still busy with her checks of the equipment, when she was suddenly approached by one of the freshman boys from class 1-E, Ryoga if she remembered correctly. He spoke angrily, "Ms. Ninomiya! I heard from a friend of mine that you are trying to seduce her_ _f-f-fiancè..." For some reason, the boy had difficulty saying that word, but he continued nonetheless, by saying, "...I warn you that you are on thin ice, trying to steal a s-s-suitor from one of your students, let alone trying to make him cheat on the girl who he is engaged to!"_

To this, Hinako said, "Uh...I have no idea what you are talking about sir..."

_Ryoga, for that was who the boy was, then said, anger seeping through his voice, "I mean Ranma Saotome! Are you, or are you not, trying to steal him from Akane Tendo!?"_

_Hinako merely looked at him, nonplussed, then he continued, rambling, "I mean, in addition to it being indecent and strange, he has these three other girls after him, and they will be angry as well. They tend to attack anyone but the jerk like bloodthirsty wolverines, and it would be much safer for you if you left them alone. I mean, you got me last time, but it was probably just a lucky shot, and these girls are all very, VERY dangerous; they would kill you as soon as look at you, you see. Do you see why it would be safest to avoid the jerk?"_

_Hinako couldn't understand most of the conversation, but she did understand that he was referring to some delinquents, so she asked, "What are these delinquent girl's names? They sound like they need to be punished, BADLY!"_

_Ryoga seemed confused, but he said, "Uh, there is a psycho gymnast, Kodachi or something like that, she uses ribbons and such to attack, Ukyo, a truly mean-spirited person, who wields spatulas and cooking supplies, and this malicious Amazon warrior by the name of Shampoo. Uh, why do you ask?"_

_Hinako then remembered that there was a bag of candy she had confiscated lying in her office, and she quickly left to go examine it as well, leaving the strange boy a little...confused she supposed, but he wouldn't understand anyway..._

_End Flashback:_

As she was thinking back, she realized that the three girls here must be the three who that helpful boy Ryoga was talking about; Ukyo was talking, saying something about how she was too old for some boy, and that she had to leave him alone or else she would be in trouble. Understanding this as a threat, Hinako immediately shouted, "Eight Treasures of the Deadly 5-Yen Piece!"

Although clearly surprised, Ukyo and the Chinese girl, Sampo or something, nearly managed to avoid it through a quick dodge, but they were too late. Within seconds, all three of the girls were drained, unconscious and unmoving. 'Hmm, those two might have been a bit more of a threat if they hadn't been hit before they attacked; I had better watch out next time...'

Sighing, Hinako grabbed all three of the delinquent girls and started to carry them to someplace where they could rest and recover; even delinquents deserved that...

* * *

"...Ranma dear, as I said, Mousse has been very nice to me these past few days; he has taken me shopping for groceries with him, as it was his day to pick up some of the specialty ingredients for the Nekohanten's dishes, to the movies once, and tonight he took me to dinner at this fancy seafood place. This was all in the past five days..."

"Mmm..." Kasumi looked over at Ranma, who appeared to be reading a scroll of some kind, which he had apparently received from Happosai, while grunting periodically, then she asked,

"Ranma dear, are you listening?"

Without looking back he said, "Yes Kasumi, it was your third 'outing' with Mousse in the past...five days? Huh, he must either feel REALLY guilty, or maybe he likes you or somethin'."

Kasumi then muttered, in a voice that she hoped was too low to hear, "I hope that it's the latter myself..."

Ranma however, must have heard, as he started chuckling, causing Kasumi to suspect that she was blushing, as her face had started to heat up, then he smirked. Embarrassed, Kasumi tried to divert him, "Oh, by the way, Ranma dear, while Mousse and I were having dinner tonight, this...long haired, rather busty woman walked inside, carrying Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi, then she shrank into this adorable little girl. I think that the three of them must have gotten into a fight with her or something..."

Kasumi realized almost immediately that that must have been the wrong thing to say, as Ranma looked rather disappointed, almost crushed, then he said, in a barely audible mumble, "I didn't expect much from Kodachi, but I really thought better of Shampoo and Ucchan; they were being...I dunno..."

Kasumi, not knowing what else to say, was about to leave, when she remembered something she had meant to tell him. Turning to him, she said, "Oh, Ranma dear, something else happened on my outing with Mousse, something rather strange; when I mentioned how Shampoo turned her Amazon marriage into a Japanese engagement, he, for some reason, left, after thanking me politely of course. He said that he had to send a letter to his cousin, So pu? So pa? Soap? Something along those lines. Do you know what he might have been asking about?"

She then looked back, only to see Ranma's eyes bugging out, then he yelled, at a volume that seemed to shake the entire house, "SHE DID WHAT...!?"

**Author's Note: **The Hinako arc continues, and small changes are starting to snowball away from the original direction of the arc. Kasumi shows interest in Mousse, and Akane gives Ukyo a rather rude wake-up call, and vice-versa! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, and remember, the more good reviews, the faster I update. I know that it still seems like much of the same, but it takes time for the changes to snowball enough that we see really new material, but some hints of it can already be seen on the horizon.


	32. Author's Note

**Choices and Consequences**

**Author's Note**

I apologize for not having updated this story for well over two months, but don't worry, I haven't decided to quit.

In fact, I am in the process of revising my original chapters, as I have improved in my writing skills and those chapters...haven't.

Currently Chapters 1-14 have been revised for better flow, better explanations, and generally better writing.

As of right now, I plan on updating all of the other chapters, Chapters 15-31, before I continue with new chapters. It will probably take a while, but it will be helped greatly if I receive more reviews=).

Escoger

**Last Updated 6/05/09**


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